<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/26/russia-accused-of-taking-belarus-nuclear-hostage-missile-deal-ukraine>
"Ukraine has accused Russia of destabilising Belarus and making its smaller
neighbour into “a nuclear hostage”, after Vladimir Putin’s announcement that
Moscow has made a deal to station tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian
territory.
The country’s opposition leader in exile, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, said the
move “grossly contradicts the will of the Belarusian people” and reflected the
further subjugation of Belarus under Russian control.
The Russian president’s suggestions that the move would not breach
non-proliferation agreements and that it was consistent with similar
arrangements that the US has with several of its European allies was given
short shrift in Kyiv.
Oleksiy Danilov, the head of Ukraine’s national security and defence council,
called the deal “a step towards internal destabilisation” of Belarus, and said
it maximised what he termed the level of “negative perception and public
rejection” of Russia and Putin in Belarusian society.
“The Kremlin took Belarus as a nuclear hostage,” he wrote on Twitter.
Mykhailo Podolyak, another senior adviser to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr
Zelenskiy, mocked Putin’s plan, saying the Russian leader was “too
predictable”. “Making a statement about tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, he
admits that he is afraid of losing & all he can do is scare with tactics,”
Podolyak tweeted on Sunday.
Nato spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said on Sunday: “Russia’s nuclear rhetoric is
dangerous and irresponsible. Nato is vigilant and we are closely monitoring the
situation. We have not seen any changes in Russia’s nuclear posture that would
lead us to adjust our own.
“Russia’s reference to Nato’s nuclear sharing is totally misleading. Nato
allies act with full respect of their international commitments. Russia has
consistently broken its arms control commitments.”
Putin has repeatedly made nuclear threats or escalated nuclear rhetoric after
the full invasion of Ukraine, but this is the first time he has announced a
plan to station nuclear weapons in another country."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
