Belarus on Tuesday launched exercises with missiles and fighter jets capable of carrying tactical nuclear weapons, which Russia, its close ally, has deployed there amid tensions with the West over Ukraine.
The Belarusian drills began a day after Russia announced plans to hold similar exercises simulating the use of nuclear weapons on the battlefield, in what it saw as a response to statements by Western officials signaling possible deeper involvement in the war. in Ukraine. It was the first time Moscow had publicly announced such an exercise.
Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said an Iskander short-range missile unit and a squadron of Su-25 fighter jets will take part in the exercises.
The drills, held jointly with Russia, began as Russian President Vladimir Putin took office for a fifth term on Tuesday, pledging to guarantee Russia’s security.
Last year, Russia moved some of its tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, which also borders Ukraine and NATO members Poland, Latvia and Lithuania. Belarus’s authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko, has relied on close ties to Russia and provided his country with a stage for war in Ukraine.
Moscow has emphasized that tactical nuclear weapons deployed in Belarus remain under Russian military control.
Unlike intercontinental ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads that can destroy entire cities, tactical nuclear weapons intended to be used against troops on the battlefield are less powerful. Those weapons include aerial bombs, warheads for short-range missiles and artillery munitions.
Deploying tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, which has a 1,084-kilometer (673-mile) border with Ukraine, would allow Russian aircraft and missiles to hit potential targets there more easily and quickly if Moscow decides to use them. It also expands Russia’s ability to attack several NATO allies in central and eastern Europe.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko shake hands. (Dmitry Astakhov, Sputnik, government group photo via AP, file)
Both Putin and Lukashenko said the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus was aimed at countering perceived Western threats.
Lukashenko on Tuesday called the exercises “exclusively defensive,” arguing that Russian nuclear weapons are intended to deter any possible aggression against Belarus. “This is a deterrent weapon, a defensive weapon,” Lukashenko said.
The Belarusian leader said the exercises will involve the delivery of tactical nuclear weapons from storage to military units where they will be mounted on missiles and attached to fighter jets. Missile units will practice covert deployment in firing positions to simulate a response to an attack on Belarus, he said.
Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who was forced to leave the country under official pressure after challenging Lukashenko in a presidential vote in August 2020, met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday and denounced the presence of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus.
“Nuclear weapons make Belarus and Belarusians targets,” he said. “Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus pose a direct threat to the life and health of citizens across Europe.”