Updated 01.18 | Published 01.04
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In a move with a clear direction towards NATO, Lukashenko threatens with Russian nuclear weapons.
He claims that “several dozen” nuclear bombs are stationed in Belarus and that there are no written rules about when they may be used.
– It is up to me and Putin, he says.
Dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko spoke on Thursday before 1,200 members of what is known as the People’s Congress of Belarus, writes Reuters.
He talked about both domestic and foreign threats and claimed, without evidence, that the Belarusian opposition plans to take control of an area in the western parts of the country and then request support from NATO troops.
According to Reuters, citing the state-run Belta news agency, Lukashenko said that “current realities have required changes in the country’s security posture”:
– It has received a new topic: Nuclear deterrence. Those who try to push us in that direction should, to put it mildly, take a rational look at the obvious consequences of their ill-considered decisions.
“You know me well”
According to Newsweek, Lukashenko also said that enemies who set foot on Belarusian soil will receive “an immediate response with all kinds of weapons.”
– How can we deter them? That’s where nuclear weapons come into the picture. We don’t threaten anyone with nuclear weapons. We are not attacking anyone. This empty talk about Putin deploying them and Lukashenko not using them if a war is started against Belarus is nonsense. You know me well.
Russia’s move of nuclear weapons to Belarus was announced by Putin last May and last Christmas Lukashenko said the transfer was completed in October. Both the US and the UK have previously assessed that Putin and Lukashenko are not bluffing about the atomic bombs.
– Putin doesn’t always lie, said British Defense Minister Ben Wallace last summer.
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“Up to me and Putin”
In his speech on Thursday, Lukashenko said that “several dozen” tactical nuclear weapons are in the country. He also claimed that the new military doctrine to be approved by Belarus does not contain any writings about when they can be used.
– The mechanism has not been established. It’s up to me and Putin. We talk to each other about how, when and where not only tactical nuclear weapons but also conventional weapons should be used, he said, according to Belta.
The exiled opposition in Belarus rejects the dictator’s statements.
– It takes a psychotherapist, I think, to comment on Lukashenko. He lives in his own world and seems to have lost touch with reality, top name Franak Viacorka told Reuters.
– This congress is a desperate attempt to restore internal confidence, but also to show the outside world that he still has supporters. Of course, the easiest way to collect them is to create the feeling of an external enemy.
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Condemned as propaganda
General Alexander Volfovich, chairman of the Security Council of Belarus, has previously said that nuclear weapons are a response to “aggression” from neighboring and NATO member Poland.
This summer, Vladimir Putin even claimed that Poland is planning an invasion of Belarus, saying it “would be an attack on Russia.”
At the People’s Congress this week, Ivan Tertel, head of Belarus’ KGB security service, also singled out another NATO country. He said, according to Reuters, that Lithuania has fired drones at Minsk in attacks that were deflected.
Lithuania has denied the accusation and Poland’s Deputy Defense Minister Cezary Tomczyk dismisses it as a lie.
– These people are doing everything to destabilize the EU and NATO. Any message from Russia or Belarus should be seen as propaganda, not as fact, he said at a press conference.
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