Putin says Russia sent nuclear weapons to Belarus

Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia has delivered tactical nuclear weapons to neighboring Belarus and warned that his country could use similar weapons in Ukraine, although he added that a full-scale invasion could be a year away. There was “no need” to do so for longer than

If the transfer is ratified, it would be the first time Russia has deployed nuclear weapons outside its borders since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia will retain control of the strategic nuclear weapons, which are to be kept in refurbished Soviet-era storage facilities.

Speaking at his key economic conference in St. Petersburg on Friday, the Russian president said Moscow had sent an unspecified number of nuclear warheads to Belarus, adding that the supplies would be “completely exhausted by the end of the summer or by the end of the year”. Will happen”.

Tactical nuclear weapons, known as “suitcase nukes”, are smaller than strategic ones and can be deployed over shorter distances for combat use – though Belarus’ strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko said this week The weapons were three times more powerful than nuclear. America dropped bombs on Japan during World War II.

Putin has said that Russia has the right to deploy weapons because of the number of nuclear weapons deployed by the US in Europe. He has regularly raised the possibility of using them when Russia’s “state status is under threat” in Ukraine.

Neither Russia nor Belarus has shown any evidence of nuclear weapons distribution since first announcing the plan in March.

Although Putin has repeatedly stated that Russia does not plan to use nuclear weapons, he has made references to the possibility of using them in recent weeks as his invasion of Ukraine continues.

He raised the topic last autumn, around the time the US, Britain and France warned Russia that they would retaliate with a conventional strike if Putin used nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Moscow’s ally China has also repeatedly said that the use of nuclear weapons would be unacceptable.

Putin told the forum audience, made up of Russia’s elite and mostly guests from the Middle East, Africa and Asia, that he would oppose any attempt at arms control talks with the West.

“We have more weapons than NATO countries. They know it and are always trying to get us to start reduction talks. You know, as people say, screw them,” Putin said. “Because In this case, to use an economic term, it is our competitive advantage.”

Putin’s announcement was the centerpiece of an angry three-hour session, in which he claimed without evidence that Ukraine’s counteroffensive against the invading forces had failed.

He said that the supply of advanced Western weapons such as Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and Leopard tanks had not given Kiev the upper hand on the battlefield, and destroyed F-16 fighter jets after Ukraine received them from Western allies. swore to do.

“Tanks are burning, Leopards are among those destroyed. . . and there is no doubt that the F-16s will also burn,” Putin said.

If Ukraine deploys F-16s outside its borders but uses them in retaliation, Russia will “look where and how we can hit units that are being used in combat operations against us”. , Putin said, adding that it raised “a serious danger of NATO being drawn into this armed conflict”.

Putin also claimed Russia had destroyed five US-built Patriot missile defense units in Kiev – even though Ukraine and its Western allies say it has only been supplied with two spare launchers.

“If we destroy five Patriot systems near Kiev, what’s to stop us from destroying any building or piece of infrastructure in central Kiev? There is no such limit,” he said. “We can do it, but we are not doing it for many reasons. (It) is not needed, that is the first reason. Because the enemy does not succeed at the border,” Putin said.

He insisted that Russia was justified in starting the war because Ukraine was run by “Nazis”, even though its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish.

“I have had many Jewish friends since childhood. They say that Zelensky is not a Jew. He is a disgrace to the Jewish people, ”Putin said to thunderous applause from the audience.

He then broke off his speech to show a short documentary film about the Holocaust in Ukraine during World War II, watching his officers and oligarchs.