Has Putin’s threat fizzled out? Expert calls nuclear weapons stationing “strategically desperate”

• VonMoritz Serif

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There are increasing signs that Russia’s Vladimir Putin is becoming increasingly nervous. The Ukraine war went differently than planned.

Moscow – Loses Kremlin ruler Wladimir Putin getting on your nerves? Political scientist David Sirakov from the Atlantic Academy in Rhineland-Palatinate considers the stationing of nuclear weapons in Belarus announced by Kremlin chief Putin to be an “act of strategic desperation” in Russia.

“On the one hand, the stationing should show that Russia still has potential for escalation and blackmail in the conflict with the West – but that is very questionable,” said Sirakov. Putin’s move is not surprising given a constitutional change in Belarus last year.

Vladimir Putin at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium in March 2022.

© IMAGO/Sergey Guneev

Putin’s usual tactic in the Ukraine war: “act of strategic desperation”

“That fits in with the Kremlin’s usual tactics of using threatening gestures to dissuade the populations of Western countries from supporting Ukraine.” He doesn’t think that can succeed. “I think that’s being recognized for what it is: an act of strategic desperation in the face of a war of aggression gone haywire.”

The announced stationing also makes it clear how closely Belarus is now linked to Russia, said the director of the Atlantic Academy. “One Russian newspaper sees this as a kind of unification and shows an additional dimension of Russian imperialism and the further erosion of sovereignty in Minsk.”

Pictures of the Ukraine war: great horror and small moments of happiness

The war began at the end of February with Russian attacks on numerous cities in Ukraine. Early on, the troops from Moscow also fired on Kiev, the country’s capital. One of the Russian missiles was placed in front of the National Museum of Military History as part of an exhibition. According to curator Pavlo Netesov, by exhibiting the destroyed equipment, he wanted to remind the residents of Kiev of the street fights that raged in other Ukrainian cities, from which the capital was spared. © Sergei Supinsky/afp

One of these cities was Donetsk. In May 2022, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj visited the former metropolis of millions and listened to the reports of soldiers at the front. The war between Russia and Ukraine has been raging in Donetsk since 2014. Since then, a regime installed by Moscow, which calls itself the Donetsk People’s Republic, has ruled there. After a few temporary truce agreements, the city in the southeast is now the site of fierce fighting again. © Uncredited/dpa

It is above all the civilian population, like these two children and elderly women in Lysychansk, who suffer from the Ukraine war. The city is in the middle of the Donbass, the most heavily fought-over region in Ukraine since the outbreak of war. Residents who were unable or unable to flee now have to seek shelter from artillery fire on a regular basis. © Aris Messinis/afp

Chasiv Yar is a small town not far from Lysychansk. There, workers are clearing the rubble of a house hit by a Russian “Hurricane” missile. In July 2022, Russia celebrated military successes, especially in the Donbass region. Numerous towns and communities were conquered. Vladimir Putin’s troops appeared to be taking Ukraine by storm. © Anatoly Stepanov/afp

burning wheat field in the Zaporizhia region

This man in military uniform is in a burning wheat field in the Zaporizhia region as Russian troops shell fields to prevent local farmers from harvesting grain. Starving Ukraine and stealing crops was part of Russia’s strategy from the start © Uncredited/dpa

The six-month anniversary in August was a sad period in Russia’s war of aggression

The six month anniversary of the UKraine war in August was a sad period in the Russian invasion. But the Ukrainian armed forces continued to resist with heart and soul and celebrated their nation, as here with a drone and a Ukrainian flag over the “Monument of the Motherland” in Kiev. © Dimitar Dilkoff/afp

Here in September in the city of Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region a bridge was bombed

In September, Vladimir Putin’s troops began shelling the infrastructure of Ukrainian cities. In the city of Kupiansk, Kharkiv region, Moscow bombed a bridge. In many other cities, Russian forces tried to disrupt the power supply. © Yasuyoshi Chiba/afp

Instead of a brief war of aggression planned by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the war is still ongoing.

Because there were no successes in the Ukraine, the Russian troops needed more and more recruits for the front. President Vladimir Putin therefore announced a partial mobilization in his own country. Like this man, thousands of young men in the city of Kineshma had to say goodbye to their mothers and go to war in Ukraine. © Vladimir Smirnov/image

Here Putin is seen speaking on a large screen in Red Square on the occasion of the annexation of four regions of Ukraine occupied by Russian forces in September

In the east of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin created facts at the end of September. Four regions of the country that had previously declared independence were annexed. On the occasion of the territorial gains, Putin addressed the population of Russia in a TV speech. At least on Red Square in Moscow, Putin’s speech was enthusiastically applauded. © Alexander Nemenov/afp

Black smoke rises from a fire on the Kerch bridge after a truck explosion near Kerch on October 8, 2022

Black smoke rises from a fire on the Kerch bridge after a truck explosion near Kerch on October 8, 2022. It is the only land connection between Russia and the annexed Crimean Peninsula. Russia promised to find the culprits without immediately blaming Ukraine. © Uncredited/afp

Ukrainian artillerymen fire a 152mm towed howitzer (D20) at a frontline position near the town of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region in late October during the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Also in October, Ukraine manages to advance on many sectors of the front. The armed forces are able to do this primarily thanks to support from the West, which is supplying more and more heavy equipment to the conflict. Here, Ukrainian artillerymen fire a 152mm towed howitzer (D20) at a frontline position near the town of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region. © Dimitar Dilkoff/afp

A resident of Kherson gives a thumbs-up in support of Ukraine in the city’s main square after its liberation from Russian occupation

In mid-November, the Ukrainian troops achieved a great success. You can retake the port city of Kherson in the south-east of the country. In addition to its high strategic value, the metropolis also has symbolic value in the fight against Russia. A resident celebrates the liberation with a thumbs up in the center of the city. © Celestino Arce Lavin/dpa

The world held its breath that day: An aerial photo shows the spot where two men were killed by a rocket hit on November 15, 2022 in the eastern Polish village of Przewodow, near the border with war-torn Ukraine

The world held its breath that day: An aerial photo shows the spot where two men were killed by a rocket hit on November 15, 2022 in the eastern Polish village of Przewodow, near the border with war-torn Ukraine. Russia attacked Ukraine with a massive attack on civilian infrastructure, leaving millions of homes without power. Immediately after the incident, there were fears that the conflict could escalate again, but on November 16, 2022, Poland announced that the missile probably came from Ukrainian air defenses. This theory was then confirmed by Washington. © Wojtek Radwanski/Damien Simonart/afp

a work by British street artist Banksy on a snow-covered anti-tank structure

Banksy also visited Ukraine in the midst of the war. A photo taken on Nov. 17, 2022 shows a work by the British street artist on a snow-covered anti-tank structure in Kiev’s Independence Square. At this point it was already clear that Ukraine would have to prepare for a winter of war. © Sergei Supinsky/afp

Rosenergoatom employee Dmitry Shevchenko inspects a tank of distilled water to ensure the operation of the fourth unit of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant

More hard attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure. Even nuclear power plants are being targeted by Russian missiles. Rosenergoatom employee Dmitry Shevchenko inspects a tank of distilled water to ensure the operation of the fourth unit of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which was damaged by shelling in Enerhodar during the Russian military operation in Ukraine. © Alexey Kudenko/imago

A woman plays the guitar in a pub during a power outage in Lviv, December 2, 2022

Small moments of happiness in the madness of war: A woman plays a guitar in a pub during a power outage in Lviv December 2, 2022, as the city is hit by a planned blackout following the recent massive Russian airstrikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. © Yuriy Dyachyshyn/afp

Here she meets Saint Mykola (Saint Nicholas) on December 19, 2022 in Kherson, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine

For a moment, this girl can just be a kid. Here she meets Saint Mykola (Saint Nicholas) on December 19, 2022 in Kherson, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine © Dimitar Dilkoff/afp

Poland wants to play a greater role in Putin’s nuclear deterrent

But the stationing in Belarus is at least calling Poland on the plan. The neighboring country can imagine greater participation in NATO’s nuclear deterrence – even without stationing nuclear bombs on its territory. “Poland would potentially be willing to expand its participation and cooperation within the framework of NATO’s nuclear deterrent and take responsibility,” said Polish President Andrzej Duda’s national security adviser Jacek Siewiera. “Deploying nuclear weapons is different,” he added.

So far, Poland has only been involved in consultations, for example in NATO’s nuclear planning group, which meets in top secret. Siewiera did not say how exactly he imagines a stronger participation. However, he pointed out that nuclear sharing also includes aircraft that could carry “special weapons”. The Polish President Andrzej Duda had already announced his fundamental interest in greater participation in NATO’s nuclear deterrent in October of last year. (mse/dpa)

Rubriklistenbild: © IMAGO/Sergey Guneev