Putin says nuclear weapons deployed in Belarus are a wake-up call to the West

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus was a reminder that the West would not be able to impose a strategic defeat on Russia.

On Friday, Putin confirmed for the first time the existence of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus.

Speaking at Russia’s main economic forum in St Petersburg, Putin said Russia’s tactical nuclear warheads had been handed over to ally Belarus, but stressed that he saw no need to resort to such weapons at this time.

“As you know, we were negotiating with our ally [o presidente bielorrusso, Alexander] Lukashenko to transfer a part of these tactical nuclear weapons to the territory of Belarus – it happened,” Putin said.

“The first nuclear warheads were delivered to the territory of Belarus. But only the first, the first part. But let’s finish this work by the end of the summer [do hemisfério norte] or until the end of the year.”

The first deployment of such warheads – short-range nuclear weapons that can potentially be used on the battlefield – by Moscow outside Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union was intended to serve as a warning to the West about arming and supporting warheads. Ukraine, said the Russian leader.

“It is precisely as a deterrent so that all those who are thinking about inflicting a strategic defeat against us do not ignore this circumstance,” Putin said, using a diplomatic term for a defeat so severe that Russian power would be diminished on the world stage by decades.

Putin’s staunch ally Lukashenko said on Tuesday his country had begun receiving deliveries of tactical nuclear weapons from Russia, including some three times more powerful than the atomic bombs the United States dropped on Japan in 1945.

The Russian leader announced in March that he had agreed to deploy tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, noting that the US had deployed warheads like these in several European countries over several decades.

Putin says West wants strategic defeat

The United States criticized Putin’s decision but said it had no intention of changing its own position on strategic nuclear weapons and saw no signs that Russia was preparing to use nuclear weapons.

Russia’s move is still being closely watched by Washington and its allies, and also by China, which has repeatedly warned 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 engaged in its biggest land war in Europe since World War Two after invading the neighboring country last year in what he called an “operation special military”.

But Russia does not need to resort to nuclear weapons for now, Putin said, signaling that there is no change in Moscow’s nuclear posture, which only envisages such a move if the existence of the Russian state is threatened.

“Nuclear weapons were made to guarantee our security in the broadest sense of the word and the existence of the Russian state, but we… have no such need. [de usá-las]”, said Putin.

In a defiant tone, he addressed his country’s political and business elite, saying Ukraine’s counter-offensive against Russian forces had so far not met with significant success. Kiev’s forces are suffering heavy losses and “don’t stand a chance” against Russia’s army, Putin said.