Image: Gavriil GRIGOROV / SPUTNIK / AFP
“The inadequate reaction of a number of Western capitals to our cooperation with Belarus on military nuclear use can only cause astonishment,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, according to a statement released by the ministry on Monday.
Finally, NATO had introduced the concept of joint nuclear missions and the US had stationed nuclear bombs in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey. Against the background of high tensions with the West as a result of the Ukraine war, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin announced on Saturday that tactical nuclear weapons would be stationed in the neighboring ex-Soviet republic of Belarus. Putin also justified the stationing by saying that the USA had been doing something similar in Europe for years.
The Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko is considered to be heavily dependent on Moscow politically, economically and militarily. However, even before the start of the Ukraine war, the 68-year-old asked Russia to store nuclear weapons in Belarus. He cited security concerns about the West as a reason.
In the West, Putin’s announcements were taken as another threatening gesture. According to a NATO spokeswoman, the Western military alliance still sees no acute need for action. The alliance will monitor the situation closely, she said.
Source: Nachrichten
