NATO stated it doesn’t see any change in Russia’s nuclear place after Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko claimed that the nation has already acquired some tactical nuclear weapons from Moscow. Nonetheless, Russia’s overseas ministry stated its nuclear coverage was ‘strictly defensive’.
In an interview on state tv on Tuesday, Lukashenko brashly warned that he would not hesitate to order their use if Belarus confronted an act of aggression. Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated the weapons shall be deployed to Belarus subsequent month and can stay beneath Moscow’s unique management.
“We’re, after all, intently monitoring what Russia is doing. To this point, we have not seen any adjustments within the nuclear posture that requires any adjustments in our posture,” Stoltenberg instructed reporters earlier than chairing a gathering of NATO defence ministers on the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels.
NATO’s secretive nuclear defence planning group is about to satisfy on Friday. The assembly has lengthy been deliberate and isn’t a response to current developments, however the alliance is worried about Putin’s threats and his selections to drag Russia out of essential arms limitation treaties.
“Russia’s nuclear rhetoric and messaging is reckless and harmful,” Stoltenberg stated. “Russia should know {that a} nuclear conflict can’t be received and mustn’t ever be fought.” He famous that Russia has invested closely in new fashionable nuclear capabilities and likewise deployed extra nuclear capabilities, together with near NATO borders, for example, within the excessive north.
Earlier this yr, Putin introduced the deliberate deployment of short-range nuclear weapons to Moscow’s neighbour and ally Belarus in a transfer extensively seen as a warning to the West because it stepped up navy assist for Ukraine. Russia can be utilizing Belarus as a staging base for assaults in Ukraine.
Throughout a gathering with Lukashenko on Friday, Putin stated work on constructing services for the weapons can be accomplished by July 7-8, and they’d be moved to Belarusian territory shortly after that.
US President Joe Biden and his NATO counterparts are gathering for a summit on July 11-12 within the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, about 35 kilometres from the Belarus border.
Russian International Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Thursday stated Russia might deploy nuclear weapons “solely in extraordinary circumstances and shall be doable just for defensive functions.”
TASS quoted Zakharova as saying, “Russia’s nuclear deterrence coverage is strictly defensive. The hypothetical use of nuclear weapons is clearly restricted by extraordinary circumstances throughout the framework of strictly defensive functions.” Zakharova stated Russia was “absolutely dedicated to the precept of the inadmissibility of nuclear conflict.” She added that in nuclear conflict, there may be no winners and it mustn’t ever be unleashed.
(With PTI inputs.)
