Russia deploys nuclear weapons to Belarus in Putin's dramatic escalation of Ukraine war

9 June 2023, 14:16

Vladimir Putin will deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus in less than a month's time, in another bid from the Kremlin to escalate the stakes in the Ukraine war.

The Russian leader said they will be deployed in the neighbouring country as he met Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko in the resort of Sochi.

It is another desperate attempt to intimidate the West over its support for Ukraine, which has seen his bid to take over the country completely foiled.

And he now faces losing even more territory in the regions he has "annexed" for Russia, with Kyiv appearing to have blown the starting whistle on its long-awaited counter offensive.

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It's now equipped with a raft of Western tanks, missiles and vehicles and it even has F-16 jet fighters in the pipeline.

Days after Russia was blamed for detonating a dam and causing mass flooding on the Dnipro river, Putin looked to ramp up the stakes again as he casts a worried eye on Ukraine's operations against his occupying forces.

A reading from a meeting with Lukashenko, the only leader in Europe who can rival Putin's autocratic grip on his people, on Friday said the Russian president announced the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus from either 7 or 8 July.

"So everything is according to plan, everything is stable," he said.

Previously, Putin said his actions only mirrored the US's stationing of nuclear weapons in Europe, and that Belarus would have no control over the weapons.

"There is nothing unusual here either: firstly, the United States has been doing this for decades. They have long deployed their tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of their allied countries," he had said.

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"We agreed that we will do the same - without violating our obligations, I emphasise, without violating our international obligations on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons."

But it is clear this move is designed to intimidate, after past rhetoric failed to deter Western support for Ukraine.

Kyiv has attacked a number of Russian positions in the east and south of occupied Ukraine, including Bakhmut, a city in the Donbas region that Russia spent lives and months trying to capture in bloody siege.

It is thought this is the long-awaited counter attack. Ukraine is staying largely tight-lipped about the attacks, while Russia claims is is managing to defend its lines.

One suspected target is the southern region of Zaporizhzhia, which could cut off the land bridge to Crimea from Russia. The peninsula is beloved by Russians and was annexed by Putin after taking it by force from Ukraine in 2014.

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Russia and Belarus are tied in an arrangement called the Union State, a kind of post-Soviet grouping meant to bind them together in cooperation.

Lukashenko is now thought to be heavily beholden to Putin, after Russia was said to have helped suppress a revolt against his long rule from Belarusians tired of rigged elections and his undemocratic regime.

Russia has based troops in his country and even launched attacks at Ukraine from there.

But Belarusian partisans have hit back, and were suspected of launching an attack on a Russian spy plane at a base in the country.