Experts told Reuters the development was significant,since Russia had until now been proud that unlike the United States,it did not deploy nuclear weapons outside its borders.
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The senior US administration official noted that Russia and Belarus had been speaking about the transfer of nuclear weapons for some time.
“We have not seen any reason to adjust our own strategic nuclear posture nor any indications Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon. We remain committed to the collective defence of the NATO alliance,” the official said.
Putin did not specify when the weapons would be transferred to Belarus,which has borders with three NATO members – Poland,Lithuania and Latvia. He said Russia would complete the construction of a storage facility there by July 1.
“This is part of Putin’s game to try to intimidate NATO ... because there is no military utility from doing this in Belarus as Russia has so many of these weapons and forces inside Russia,” said Hans Kristensen,director of the nuclear information project at the Federation of American Scientists.
It was also unclear where in Belarus the weapons would be stationed. The transfer would expand Russia’s nuclear strike ability along NATO’s eastern border.
Although the Kremlin has never publicly confirmed it,the West has long said that Russia keeps nuclear-capable missiles in Kaliningrad,its Baltic coast exclave between NATO and European Union members Poland and Lithuania.
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons called Putin’s announcement an extremely dangerous escalation.
“In the context of the war in Ukraine,the likelihood of miscalculation or misinterpretation is extremely high. Sharing nuclear weapons makes the situation much worse and risks catastrophic humanitarian consequences,” it said on Twitter.
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Putin said that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko had long requested the deployment. There was no immediate reaction from Lukashenko.
While the Belarusian army has not formally fought in Ukraine,Minsk and Moscow have a close military relationship. Minsk allowed Moscow to use Belarusian territory to send troops into Ukraine last year and the two nations stepped up joint military training.
“We are not handing over[the weapons]. And the US does not hand[them] over to its allies. We’re basically doing the same thing they’ve been doing for a decade,” Putin said.
“They have allies in certain countries and they train ... their crews. We are going to do the same thing.”
Russia has stationed 10 aircraft in Belarus capable of carrying tactical nuclear weapons,Putin said,adding that it had already transferred to Belarus a number of Iskander tactical missile systems that can launch nuclear weapons.
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“It’s a very significant move,” said Nikolai Sokol,a senior fellow at the Vienna Centre for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation.
“Russia had always been very proud that it had no nuclear weapons outside its territory. So,now,yes,they are changing that and it’s a big change.”
Reuters