Belarus: The Belarusian Defense Ministry confirmed in a statement on Tuesday that its troops had received training in Russia to operate and maintain the Iskander-M missile system, a strategic weapon capable of using nuclear warheads.
The announcement came two weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans to deploy nuclear weapons near the border Belarus shares with NATO members Lithuania, Latvia and Poland.
The Russian president argues that this is not unusual, as the US has been doing it for decades against NATO countries, despite calls from the Atlantic alliance and threats from the European Union to impose new sanctions on Moscow and Minsk.
The date on which Russian weapons are likely to be transferred across the border, the installation points or how many warheads will be deployed are currently unknown. Nikolai Sokov, a senior researcher at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, says that accurate information on the movements and characteristics of such weapons is unlikely, although he stresses that the message behind Putin’s decision is the most important.
“Nuclear weapons are political weapons. Changes are used for political signals. Right now we don’t have exact information about when, what weapons, how many, or where. Number will be like 10-20. Everyone really talks about the plane. So it must be gravity bombs on planes, Sokov said.
The Russian president also reported that strategic nuclear weapons storage facilities will be built in Belarus and will be ready by July 1, adding that the Kremlin has helped Belarus modernize its warplanes so they can carry nuclear weapons.