Lukashenko’s suggestion to host Russian nuclear weapons seen as response to Western threats

By suggesting to host Russian nuclear weapons Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko has responded to the West’s threats to deploy its nuclear capabilities in Poland and the Baltic countries, editor-in-chief of the Russian magazine Natsionalnaya Oborona [National Defense] and military expert Igor Korotchenko said during the roundtable in Moscow on 6 December, BelTA has learned.

“Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko outlined a number of new initiatives in the field of military cooperation with Russia, including the possibility of hosting Russian nuclear weapons under certain circumstances,” Igor Korotchenko said. “What are we talking about? It is not about the deployment of the Strategic Missile Forces units, as it was the case in the Soviet Union. Obviously, we are talking about the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons and their carriers. This is a very sensitive subject. I would like to highlight the fact that the Belarusian president voiced such a possibility in response to statements voiced by some high-ranking Western functionaries and politicians about the possibility of sending the U.S. tactical nuclear weapons from Germany and a number of other countries to Poland and, possibly, to the Baltic countries. Therefore, in response to such threats, the Belarusian side suggested hosting Russian tactical nuclear weapons.”

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“But this, of course, is an extreme scenario, an undesirable one. We categorically do not welcome it. But to ensure the sovereignty of the Union State, we will have to retaliate if the USA deploys its tactical nuclear weapons in Poland,” Igor Korotchenko emphasized.