June 11, Pozirk. The second phase of a Belarusian-Russian joint tactical nuclear drill involves troops practicing “the combat use of non-strategic nuclear weapons,” the Russian defense ministry reported.
The second phase began on June 11.
“We are being proactive to raise our readiness for the use of so-called retaliatory weapons,” Belarusian Defence Minister Viktar Chrenin said yesterday about the drill, describing the training as routine.
Belarus holds regular drills amid tension with the West over Russia’s war against Ukraine, in which Minsk supports the Kremlin.
On May 7, Alaksandar Łukašenka ordered the army to hold the drill involving delivering nuclear munitions to “missile and aviation military units, loading them onto launchers and attaching them to aircraft.”
The move came a day after the Russian General Staff announced preparations for a similar exercise.
Łukašenka and Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 9 reportedly agreed to “synchronize” and hold a joint “second and third stage.”
The US-based Institute for the Study of War played down threats from Minsk and Moscow, noting that Russia is unlikely to use nuclear weapons.
Putin and Łukašenka want to “blackmail and intimidate Europe in an attempt to divide the West and weaken support for Ukraine,” using the Belarusian people as a human shield, Belarusian opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja commented on the exercise.
