Vladimir Putin Says Russia Moved Nuclear Bombs In Belarus As Warning To West

JE News Desk:  Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that hat Moscow has sent its first batch of nuclear weapons to Belarus. Speaking at Russia's flagship economic forum in St Petersburg, Putin said Russian tactical nuclear warheads had already been delivered to close ally Belarus, but stressed he saw no need for Russia to resort to nuclear weapons for now. 

"As you know we were negotiating with our ally, (Belarusian President (Alexander) Lukashenko, that we would move a part of these tactical nuclear weapons to the territory of Belarus - this has happened," said Putin.

“The first nuclear warheads were delivered to the territory of Belarus. But only the first ones, the first part. But we will do this job completely by the end of the summer or by the end of the year."

The move, Moscow's first deployment of such warheads was intended as a warning to the West about arming and supporting Ukraine, the Russian leader said.

"...It is precisely as an element of deterrence so that all those who are thinking about inflicting a strategic defeat on us are not oblivious to this circumstance," said Putin, using a diplomatic term for a defeat so severe that Russian power would be diminished on the world stage for decades.

Meanwhile, the United States has criticised Putin's decision but has said it has no intention of altering its own stance on strategic nuclear weapons and has not seen any signs that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon.

The Russian step is nonetheless being watched closely by Washington and its allies as well as by China, which has repeatedly cautioned against the use of nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine.

Putin said the West was doing everything it could to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia in Ukraine where Moscow is locked in the biggest land war in Europe since World War Two after invading its neighbor last year in what it called "a special military operation."

But Russia had no need to resort to nuclear weapons for now, said Putin, signalling no change in Moscow's nuclear posture which only envisages such a move if the existence of the Russian state is threatened.

"Nuclear weapons have been made to ensure our security in the broadest sense of the word and the existence of the Russian state, but we...have no such need (to use them)," Putin said.

But he said talks with the West to reduce Russia's vast nuclear arsenal, the world's largest, were a non-starter. "Just talking about this (the potential use of nuclear weapons) lowers the nuclear threshold. We have more than NATO countries and they want to reduce our numbers. Screw them," said Putin.

Recalling his stated objectives at the start of the war to "demilitarise" and "denazify" Ukraine, Putin said: "As for demilitarisation, soon Ukraine will stop using its own equipment altogether. There's nothing left. Everything on which they fight and everything that they use is brought in from the outside. Well, you can't fight like that for long."

 (With Agency Inputs)