Vladimir Putin said the first batch of nuclear charges planned to be deployed in Belarus has been delivered, RIA Novosti reported.
“This is only the first part. We’ll fulfill the task in full by the end of the year”, Putin said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
At the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin also said that Russia does not yet need to use nuclear weapons, but the authorities will not reduce their number. “Nuclear weapons are created to ensure our security and the existence of the Russian state. First of all, we have no such need (to use it), and secondly, the very fact of discussing this topic already lowers the possibility of lowering the threshold for the use of weapons. We have more such weapons than the NATO countries. They know this, and they keep telling us to start negotiations on reductions. Dick to them!” – said the “head” of state.
Last week Putin said that the deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus would not start until July 2023 – after the construction of facilities for them had been completed. At the same time, Aleksandr Lukashenko claimed back in May that the relocation of Russian nuclear warheads to Belarus had already begun.
Vladimir Putin announced his plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus in March 2023. At the same time he emphasized that Russia would not violate the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons because it would not transfer these weapons to Belarus, but only deploy them – under its control – on the territory of Belarus. At the end of May, Defense Ministers of the two countries Sergey Shoygu and Viktor Khrenin signed the relevant documents.
