{"id":11583,"date":"2023-06-29T12:37:10","date_gmt":"2023-06-29T09:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/longreads\/lukasenka-repackages-putins-nuclear-threats\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","slug":"lukasenka-repackages-putins-nuclear-threats","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11583\/","title":{"rendered":"\u0141uka\u0161enka repackages Putin\u2019s nuclear threats"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n <span>By Piotra Rudko\u016dski, fellow of the Philosophy and Sociology Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences<\/span><\/p>\n<p> <b><span>Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161enka echoes and amplifies nuclear threats emanating from Moscow. \u201cThese is our weapon and we will use it,\u201d the Belarusian ruler claimed on June 27 as Minsk and Moscow struggle to mask disagreements.<\/span><\/b>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t \u0141uka\u0161enka said on June 13 that he had induced Russian President Vladimir Putin to station nuclear weapons in Belarus: \u201cIt was my demand. Russia has not imposed it on me . . . I asked Putin first. Later, I demanded in a friendly way \u2013 give me those weapons back for a while.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t It was not the first time that Putin announces a plan, but \u0141uka\u0161enka later interprets it in a different way.\n<\/p>\n<h2>Nuclear weapons \u201creturn\u201d to Belarus<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t Putin announced on March 25 his intention to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, noting that \u0141uka\u0161enka had approved the move.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t A few days later, the Belarusian leader said in an address to the nation and parliament that he had stepped up negotiations with the Russian president \u201con the return of nuclear weapons to Belarus.\u201d He added that strategic nuclear missiles might also be deployed in the future.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The Belarusian strongman said in an interview broadcast by Rossiya 1 on June 13, \u201cI didn\u2019t only ask [Putin], I demanded, \u2018Give me nuclear weapons back.\u2019\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Belarus hosted around 1,120 nuclear warheads when it was under Soviet control. Russia withdrew the arsenal in 1992 through 1996.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu stressed during his visit to Minsk in May that Moscow would not transfer any nuclear weapons to Belarus\u2019 control.\n<\/p>\n<h2>Bargaining reconstruction<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t The contents of conversations between the two leaders is held tightly. However, based on the context, assumptions can be made.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The autocrats negotiated the deal for quite a while as Belarusian leader sought better terms than those proposed by Putin. Ideally, \u0141uka\u0161enka wanted to control the arsenal. His attempt to present the deployment as \u201creturn\u201d proves his desire to control it.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The economy must be the top worry for the Belarusian leader amid international sanctions. As an alternative to control, he could ask Putin for a soft loan, a gas price discount (for instance to $70 per 1000 cubic meters) or a monetary compensation for risks associated with the presence of Russian nuclear missiles on Belarusian soil.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The bargaining was taking too long, while the Russian president needed to flex his muscles as soon as possible. Moscow needed to respond to Finland\u2019s accession to NATO and the International Criminal Court\u2019s arrest warrant for Putin. It needed to intimidate the West before Ukraine\u2019s counteroffensive.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Putin eventually decided to announce the deployment and claim that it was approved by \u0141uka\u0161enka. The latter faced the dilemma: to confirm or risk losing the Kremlin\u2019s support that has been crucial for his political survival since 2020. \u0141uka\u0161enka chose to confirm.\n<\/p>\n<h2>Disputes between two leaders<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t A similar deadlock was reported in 2015, when Putin announced his intention to set up a Russian military base in Belarus. It was a miscalculation on his part. \u0141uka\u0161enka snubbed the Russian president by rejection.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t However, the Belarusian strongman is more vulnerable now that ties with the West have been frozen. His global reputation is so poor that most Third World countries voted to deny Belarus a temporary seat on the UN Security Council and invoke Article 33 of the International Labor Organization Charter to sanction Belarus for violations of the right to freedom of association.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t In the most recent dispute, the Kremlin managed to push its way through, leaving \u0141uka\u0161enka the daunting task of repackaging Putin\u2019s message.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The two leaders must have had serious disagreements. Uncertainty in Russia (the war and recent mutiny) and Belarus (the war and constitutional changes) may give rise to new and bitter disputes.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t &nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Piotra Rudko\u016dski, fellow of the Philosophy and Sociology Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161enka echoes and amplifies nuclear threats emanating from Moscow. \u201cThese is our weapon and we will use it,\u201d the Belarusian ruler claimed on June 27 as Minsk and Moscow struggle to mask disagreements. \u0141uka\u0161enka said on June 13 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[24],"class_list":["post-11583","longreads","type-longreads","status-publish","hentry","rubric-theviewer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\u0141uka\u0161enka repackages Putin\u2019s nuclear threats | 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