Putin's Closest Ally Says More Than Dozen Nuclear Weapons In Belarus

Newsweek ^ | 12/10/2024 | Michael D. Carroll

[marcusmaximus]

President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus has said that more than a dozen Russian nuclear weapons have been moved to his country.

On Tuesday in post on his Telegram account, he said "I brought nuclear warheads here. Not a few dozen of them."

He continued, "Many people write: 'Oh, it's a joke, no one brought anything in.' They did. And the fact that they ... say that it's a joke means they missed it. They didn't even notice how we brought them in."

[buwaya]

Short range tactical nukes are a different matter. They are an intermediate step in the escalation chain.

Consider a scenario - Russian forces in Belorussia, or using Belorussian airspace, commence bombardment of Polish territory, perhaps to impede Polish support of Ukraine or to damage Polish transport facilities used to move aid to Ukraine. That is an act of war, Belorussia->Ukraine. Poland is inclined to retaliate. If Russian forces then counter-retaliate they could use “tactical” nukes that are at hand in Belorussia.

[Who is John Galt?]

Or consider the classic NATO scenario, back when Soviet & Warsaw Pact ground forces were actually a serious threat - the use of tactical nukes was considered a defensive option by the western alliance, if their conventional forces proved unable to stop a Warsaw Pact invasion. Tactical nukes have both offensive and defensive capabilities, and military establishments around the world obviously consider many potential scenarios and available options...

[buwaya]

Which is why putting Russian tactical nukes in Belorussia is a declaration that Russia is expanding the escalation chain. That is a threat.

[Who is John Galt?]

Yes, a potential threat or a potential defensive measure, just like NATO tactical nukes, without any of the possible complications specific to the NATO agreement. Unlike some of the clairvoyants, fortune tellers and Ukraine patriots who post here, I do not pretend to be able to read the minds of foreign political and military leaders...