Ukrainian servicemen threw the national flag over the coffin of their comrade Andrii Neshodovskiy during the funeral ceremony in Kyiv, Ukraine on March 25, 2023. Ukraine AP Photo Evgeniy Maloletka ASSOCIATED PRESS KYIV, Ukraine - Ukraine's top security official has denied the Kremlin's plans to station tactical atomic weapons in Belarus, saying Russia was taking its ally as a nuclear hostage. Moscow made a move in response to the West's increasing military support for Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the plan in a television interview on Saturday, which was triggered by the U.K. decision to provide Ukraine with armor-piercing rounds containing depleted uranium.
Putin argued that Russia was following the lead of the United States by deploying its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. He stated that Washington has nuclear weapons in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey.
He said that they are doing what they have been doing for decades, stationing them in certain countries, preparing the launch platforms and training their crews.
Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, tweeted Sunday that Putin's announcement was a step towards internal destabilization of Belarus that maximized the level of negative perception and public rejection of Russia and Putin in Belarusian society. Danilov said that the Kremlin took Belarus as a nuclear hostage. Putin claimed on Saturday that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has asked for nuclear weapons in his country to counter NATO. Belarus shares borders with three NATO members - Latvia, Lithuania and Poland - and Russia used Belarusian territory as a staging ground to send troops into neighboring Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Both Lukashenko's support of the war and Putin's plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus have been denounced by the Belarusian opposition.
Tactical nuclear weapons are intended for use on the battlefield and have a short range and low yield compared to the more powerful nuclear warheads fitted to long-range missiles. Russia plans to maintain control over the ones it sends to Belarus, and the construction of storage facilities for them will be completed by July 1, Putin said.
Russia has stored its tactical nuclear weapons at dedicated depots on its territory, and moving part of the arsenal to a storage facility in Belarus would increase the ante in the Ukrainian conflict by putting them closer to Russian aircraft and missiles already stationed there.
The U.S. said it would monitor the consequences of Putin's announcement. So far, Washington hasn't seen any indication that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon, according to National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson.
German news agency dpa reported late Saturday that Germany called it a further attempt at nuclear intimidation. The ministry went on to say that the comparison drawn by President Putin to NATO's nuclear participation is misleading and cannot be used to justify the step announced by Russia.