May 7, Pozirk. Alaksandar Łukašenka has ordered the Armed Forces to hold a drill involving nuclear delivery systems, Defense Minister Viktar Chrenin said today.
The press office of the Ministry of Defense quoted him as saying that an Iskander battalion and a Su-25 squadron were being prepared to perform their assigned tasks.
“The exercise will be conducted strictly on schedule prepared by the commander-in-chief. The entire range of activities from planning, preparation and performance of strikes with tactical nuclear weapons will be tested,” the minister said.
Chief of Staff Viktar Hulevič said that “part of the aviation forces and assets was redeployed to an alternate airfield” during the drill. When technical personnel is redeployed, the military will begin to “practice preparations for the use of nonstrategic nuclear weapons,” he said.
Security Council head Alaksandr Valfovič said on Belarus 1 that the exercise was “planned against the backdrop of events” in Russia, in apparent reference to similar training in the neighboring country. He attributed the drill to the military-political situation around Belarus.
“The practical confirmation of our servicemen’s skills in using this kind of weapons should be the main result of the drill. These events are purely defensive and do not project threats to any states,” Valfovič said.
Yesterday, the Russian General Staff announced the start of preparations for a tactical nuclear weapons exercise to improve “the nonstrategic nuclear forces’ readiness for combat missions.”
The Russian General Staff clarified that the exercise will be held by the order of Vladimir Putin. They are aimed at maintaining the readiness of personnel and equipment and ensuring Russia’s territorial integrity and independence “in response to provocative statements and threats of individual Western officials.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said recent statements by French President Emmanuel Macron and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron constituted a “completely new round of escalation of tension.”
Last week, Macron refused to rule out potentially deploying French troops, should Kyiv request them, while Cameron said that Ukraine had the right to use British weapons for strikes within Russia.
