Russia signs agreement to deploy strategic nuclear weapons in Belarus

Russia and Belarus signed an agreement on Thursday formalizing the process of deploying Russian nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory. However, control of the weapons will remain with the Kremlin. The move formalized an agreement reached earlier by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. Putin announced earlier this year that his country planned to deploy tactical, relatively short-range and low-impact nuclear weapons in Belarus.

The move was widely seen as a warning to the West which has increased its military support for Ukraine. It was not announced when the weapons would be deployed, but Putin has said that construction of storage facilities for them in Belarus will be completed by July 1. It is also unclear how many nuclear weapons will be kept in Belarus. The US government believes that Russia has about 2,000 strategic nuclear weapons, including warheads.

They can be carried by aircraft and can also be fired by short-range missiles and artillery. The purpose of strategic nuclear weapons is to destroy enemy soldiers and weapons on the battlefield. The deal was signed as Russia prepared for Ukraine’s much-anticipated retaliatory strike. Both the Russian and Belarusian authorities took this step motivated by hostility towards the West.

“The deployment of non-strategic nuclear weapons is an effective response to the aggressive policy of countries unfriendly to us,” Belarus Defense Minister Viktor Khrinin said in Minsk during a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu. Shoigu said, “The decision to take retaliatory measures in the military-nuclear sphere was made in the context of a sharp increase in the risk of war on the western borders of Russia and Belarus.

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