Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (left) hands over an agreement on the storage of tactical nuclear weapons with his Belarusian counterpart on May 25.
The signing ceremony of the agreement took place in Minsk (Belarus), between the two defense ministers of Russia and Belarus. At the signing ceremony, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu continued to defend Russia’s decision to deploy tactical nuclear weapons to the neighboring country.
He accused the West of waging a war against Russia and Belarus, that they are doing everything they can to “prolong and intensify the conflict in Ukraine”.
The Russian defense minister also revealed that the content of the signed agreement had not yet dried up. Thus, it involves the process of storing tactical nuclear weapons in a special facility in Belarus.
The installation could be completed within a month, according to the Reuters news agency. Russia also wants to maintain gun control.
It remains unclear exactly when Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons will be deployed in Belarus. The country has close relations with Russia and borders three NATO members, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.
Tactical nuclear weapons are nuclear weapons used for specific tactical purposes on the battlefield. Therefore, it has a lower destructive power than strategic nuclear weapons, which are designed to destroy large cities of millions of people.
Returning to Belarus, Minister Shoigu said that the Iskander-M missile, which can carry conventional or nuclear warheads, has been handed over to the Belarusian armed forces. He also confirmed that some Su-25 aircraft were modified to be able to use nuclear weapons.
“The Belarusian military has received the necessary training,” Shoigu said.
Russia has thousands of tactical nuclear weapons
Russia has numerical superiority over the US and the NATO military alliance when it comes to tactical nuclear weapons. Washington believes Moscow has about 2,000 active tactical warheads.
The United States has about 200 of these tactical nuclear weapons, half of which are located at bases in Europe. Tactical nuclear bombs are deployed at air bases in Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belgium and the Netherlands.
