International Desk: Russian President Vladimir Putin recently announced the deployment of strategic nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus. US President Joe Biden has expressed concern over the Russian president’s announcement.
At the same time, he also mentioned the deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus as “dangerous”. The news agency AFP reported this information in a report on Wednesday (March 29).
Russia has been conducting military operations in Ukraine for more than 13 months. Due to this long invasion, many cities and areas of this Eastern European country have been reduced to ruins. In addition, the Russian forces have failed to capture the city of Bakhmut in the Donbass region of Ukraine in recent times.
In this situation, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the installation of nuclear weapons in Belarus last Saturday. He said that Russia would deploy strategic nuclear weapons in Belarus.
President Putin also said his latest move would not violate the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. At the same time, he compared this decision to install strategic nuclear weapons in Belarus with the deployment of US weapons in Europe.
President Putin also said that even if Russia decides to deploy strategic nuclear weapons in Belarus, Moscow will not hand over control of these weapons to Minsk.
After that, US President Joe Biden spoke to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, March 28 (local time). At the time, he said, “This is a dangerous kind of talk, and at the same time it is worrying.”
Washington has condemned Russia’s plan, the AFP said. But U.S. officials say they have yet to see any signs of Russia’s nuclear weapons transfer. “They haven’t done that (arms transfer to Belarus) yet,” President Biden said on Tuesday.
Note that Belarus is a close ally of Russia, bordering Ukraine. The Belarusian government is a close ally of the Kremlin and a staunch supporter of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In addition, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has supported Russian President Vladimir Putin throughout the year on the Ukraine war issue.
President Putin told Russian state television last Saturday that Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko had long raised the issue of deploying strategic nuclear weapons in Belarus with him.
Putin also said at that time, “There is nothing unusual here either.” First, the US has been doing this for decades. They have long deployed their strategic nuclear weapons on the territory of their allies.”
He said, “Russia will complete the construction of a strategic nuclear weapons storage facility in Belarus by July 1.”
However, Vladimir Putin did not specify when the weapons would be transferred to Belarus. However, if this announcement becomes reality, Russia will deploy nuclear weapons outside the country for the first time since the mid-1990s.
