{"id":11548,"date":"2023-03-27T10:52:07","date_gmt":"2023-03-27T07:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/longreads\/belarusians-held-hostage-to-kremlins-nuclear-blackmail\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","slug":"belarusians-held-hostage-to-kremlins-nuclear-blackmail","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11548\/","title":{"rendered":"Belarusians held hostage to Kremlin\u2019s nuclear blackmail"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n By Alaksandr K\u0142asko\u016dski, BPN<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n Vladimir Putin caused a stir on March 25 by announcing that a Russian storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons will be complete in Belarus on July 1. That will expose Belarus to potential retaliation strikes should Russia use the munitions.<\/span><\/b>\n<\/p>\n

Putin cites \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s request<\/h2>\n

\n\t “Alaksandr Ryhoravi\u010d \u0141uka\u0161enka has long raised the issue of stationing Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus,” Putin told reporters in Moscow, the Russian state-owned television channel Rossiya 24 reported.<\/p>\n

\t “We have already helped our Belarusian colleagues to upgrade their planes,” he said. “Ten planes are ready to use this type of weapon.”<\/p>\n

\t “We have already handed over to Belarus our famous, very effective Iskander system. It can also be the carrier,” he added.<\/p>\n

\t “We will start training the crews on April 3,” Putin said.<\/p>\n

\t He stressed that the move would not run counter Russia\u2019s non-proliferation commitments.<\/p>\n

\t “We don’t pass [nuclear weapons to Belarus]. And the USA does not pass them to its allies. Basically, we do everything that it has been doing for decades. It has them in certain allied countries, preparing their carriers and their crews,” he said.\n<\/p>\n

\u0141uka\u0161enka regreted not having nuclear weapons<\/h2>\n

\n\t The Belarusian strongman has repeatedly expressed regret that his country gave up nuclear weapons in the 1990s. \u201cIf we had these weapons now, they would be talking to us like that now,\u201d he said in 2010, blaming his predecessor, Stanisla\u016d \u0160u\u0161kievi\u010d, for striking the nuclear withdrawal deal.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t In June 2022, \u0141uka\u0161enka asked Putin to equip Belarus\u2019 warplanes for \u201ca mirror response\u201d to alleged NATO exercises near Belarus involving planes carrying nuclear bombs.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \u201cHelp us repurpose the aircraft we have (the Su-35, as I see it), which can carry nuclear bombs. I am not saying that you will bring nuclear ammunition there tomorrow, but we should not be joking. We remember year [19] 41, when they lulled us into a false sense of security, saying that everything would be fine and peaceful and no one would attack us, and then we were not ready for it,\u201d he said in a reference to Nazi Germany\u2019s assault on the Soviet Union.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \u201cWe should be ready for everything, even the use of the most serious weapons to defend our Fatherland from Brest to Vladivostok,\u201d he added.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Putin said at the time that six European nations stored a total of 200 tactical nuclear munitions, \u201cmainly atomic bombs\u201d that belong to the United States. He said that NATO allies have \u201cprepared 257 aircraft, not only American ones\u201d to deliver the payload, if necessary.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \u201cWe can do it but we and you should not, probably, go for a mirror response, there is no need for it,\u201d the Russian president said. \u201cBut I absolutely agree with you that we simply must take care of our ultimate security, security of the Union State, and maybe, of other CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization) member states.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\t He promised that Russia would upgrade Sukhoi Su-25 ground attack aircraft in service with the Belarusian Armed Forces to carry nuclear payload, train pilots and transfer Iskander-M mobile short-range ballistic and cruise missile systems to Belarus. Moscow has delivered on that promise.\n<\/p>\n

Putin does not rule out nuke strikes at Ukraine<\/h2>\n

\n\t Russia\u2019s nuclear deployment is likely to meet with strong public discontent in Belarus, but any protests are likely to be suppressed. An online poll conducted by Chatham House in August 2022 found that 82 percent of Belarusians were opposed to the possible deployment of nuclear munitions.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Some commentators noted at the time that the move would not make sense because Russia already posed a nuclear threat to NATO from the Kaliningrad exclave.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t However, Kaliningrad is far from Ukraine, while the Kremlin does not seem to rule out tactical nuclear strikes at Ukraine. Earlier this year, Ukraine\u2019s Main Intelligence Directorate noted that Putin considered using Belarus and Crimea for nuclear attacks.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t The Russian president said that the nuclear deployment would be in response to the UK\u2019s plan to supply Ukraine with depleted uranium munitions.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \u0141uka\u0161enka had warned a few days before that Russia would deliver ammunition \u201cwith real uranium\u201d in response to the UK\u2019s move. However, the deal had been sealed long before.\n<\/p>\n

One more reason for Moscow to maintain grip on Belarus<\/h2>\n

\n\t The Kremlin\u2019s objective seems to be to intimidate Kyiv and the European Union. The storage of Russian nuclear munitions in Belarus is a great risk for the latter.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \u0141uka\u0161enka can pretend that he is tough and has the world at his feet, but nuclear weapons would make it more difficult for him to get away if Russia suffers a defeat in Ukraine.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t The Kremlin is delivering the nuclear present to its ally to make sure that Minsk will not even think of separate talks with Kyiv or the West.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t The nuclear deployment also means that the Kremlin will do its best to prevent a new popular uprising and a change of regime in Belarus.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t The country has been taken hostage by the two dictators with Putin adamant not to back down.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alaksandr K\u0142asko\u016dski, BPN Vladimir Putin caused a stir on March 25 by announcing that a Russian storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons will be complete in Belarus on July 1. That will expose Belarus to potential retaliation strikes should Russia use the munitions. Putin cites \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s request “Alaksandr Ryhoravi\u010d \u0141uka\u0161enka has long raised the issue […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[22],"class_list":["post-11548","longreads","type-longreads","status-publish","hentry","rubric-theviewer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBelarusians held hostage to Kremlin\u2019s nuclear blackmail | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Alaksandr K\u0142asko\u016dski, BPN Vladimir Putin caused a stir on March 25 by announcing that a Russian storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons will\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11548\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Belarusians held hostage to 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