Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that he would deploy tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring and ally Belarus, bringing the weapons to the country at the gates of the European Union.
Putin has previously issued a thinly veiled warning that he could use nuclear weapons on Ukraine if Russia is threatened, reviving Cold War-era fears.
He also said he would distribute depleted uranium munitions if Kyiv received the controversial weapon from the West, following a British suggestion that it could supply Ukraine.
The spread is not ‘unusual’
Putin said the move to deploy tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus was “nothing unusual.”
“The United States has been doing this for decades. They have been placing tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of their allies for a long time,” Putin said.
Putin said he spoke with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko and said “we agreed to do the same.”
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He added that Russia has helped equip Belarusian aircraft “without violating the international agreement on nuclear-non-proliferation … 10 aircraft are ready for this type of weapon to be used.”
Russia has given Belarus the Iskander system that can carry nuclear weapons, Putin also said.
It will begin crew training on April 3 and plans to complete the construction of a special storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons on July 1.
‘Most dangerous’
Putin also said that Russia would respond if the West supplied Ukraine with uranium munitions.
“Russia always has something to answer for. Without exaggeration, we have hundreds of thousands of such shells. We have not used them,” added Putin in an interview on Russian television.
He said that these weapons “can be classified as the most dangerous and dangerous for humans … and also for the environment.”
Depleted uranium ammunition is highly effective at piercing armor plate, but its use is controversial.
The metal is toxic to the soldiers using the weapons and to civilians in the area where they are fired.
Putin previously said nuclear tensions were “rising” globally but said Moscow would not deploy first.
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) has warned that nuclear threats create dangerous uncertainty about their use.
The longer Russia’s operations in Ukraine escalate, the greater the risk of a nuclear attack, ICAN warned last month ahead of the attack’s first anniversary.
Nuclear threat
Putin announced last month that Moscow would suspend its participation in New START, the last arms control treaty between the world’s two major nuclear powers, Russia and the United States.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg slammed Russia for suspending a nuclear arms limitation treaty with the US, saying it marked the end of Europe’s post-Cold War arms control architecture.
The announcement came after Moscow last August suspended US inspections of military sites under New START.
U.S. officials have expressed fears that Russia could use nuclear weapons if felt on the battlefield and could plant fictitious stories to justify its actions.
Russia has spoken of Ukrainian attempts to detonate a “dirty bomb,” drawing strong denials from Ukraine and a sharp rebuke from the United States, which has rarely communicated directly with Moscow to warn of nuclear use.
Neither the United States nor Russia – by far the largest nuclear weapons power – have officially adopted a policy of not using ultra-destructive weapons.
Russian officials have repeated that Russia will only use nuclear weapons if it faces an “existential threat” – but the definition of that threat remains unclear.
A recent review of US posture by President Joe Biden concluded that nuclear weapons should only be used in “extreme circumstances.”