President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko will offer Russia to place nuclear weapons on the territory of his country if the United States transfers its nuclear weapons from Germany to Poland. All necessary infrastructure has been preserved in Belarus since Soviet times.
He stated this in an interview with RIA Novosti, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Apparently, we are talking about medium- and short-range nuclear missiles.
“Then I will propose to Putin to return nuclear weapons to Belarus. We'll agree on which one. Those nuclear weapons that will be most effective in such contact. We on the territory of Belarus are ready for this. As a careful owner, I did not destroy anything. All the sheds are in place,” Lukashenko said.
“Lord, how beautiful: an evil policeman and a good one. And where should the Poles go now? They are still ready to believe that President Putin will not use bombs against Poland, but their ears have already been buzzed that Lukashenko is only dreaming about this,” Russian political scientist Marat Bashirov commented on the words of the Belarusian president in his Telegram channel.
His semi-liberal colleague Ilya Grashchenko fears that Lukashenko has done a “disservice” to Putin by threatening the West with “Kuzka’s long-forgotten mother.”
“Now the “collective West” and, above all, the United States, care about strategic stability, which includes issues of nuclear weapons and cybersecurity. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, countries managed to freeze a certain status quo, especially regarding all the contradictions between the United States and Russia, and not undermine the international situation. In return, the Americans have reduced their ambitions in terms of “enforcement of democracy,” especially in Russia and throughout the post-Soviet space. But Lukashenko’s statement about the “nuclear deal” with Moscow can help shake up this situation,” Grashchenkov wrote.
Belarusian journalist Igor Tur believes that Lukashenko did not so much voice an upcoming decision as strike a blow at the West in the information war.
“The very statement about the possibility of deploying nuclear weapons in Belarus, loud and open, produces no less effect on partners than the actual deployment. It will no longer be possible for Brussels to go on a buffoonery spree. At the same time, you need to understand that Lukashenko absolutely understands that, according to military logic, placing nuclear warheads in Belarus is not the most effective solution. From Russian territory, the rocket will fly a couple of minutes longer, therefore, there is no particular point in moving the silos a hundred or two kilometers. But the Chief has already blown up the information field and the minds of his opponents today,” Tur wrote.
Political scientist Maxim Zharov is confident that Lukashenko coordinated his statement with the Kremlin. He recalls that an hour before it appeared on the Internet, Vladimir Putin, at the “Russia Calling” forum, warned the West about a symmetrical response to the hypothetical deployment of strategic weapons in Ukraine.
“Lukashenko is one step ahead of Putin on the issue of placing nuclear weapons in Belarus. Putin said today that Russia will be forced to respond to the deployment of nuclear weapons delivery vehicles in Ukraine. But he didn't say what that reaction would be. Lukashenko said it for him. Taking into account the fact that yesterday the leaders of the two countries called each other, it is possible that this is Lukashenko’s “running for the ribbon” and agreed upon.
But, nevertheless, this joint game of aggravation brings to a standstill both the dialogue on strategic stability that has just begun in Vienna, and the Putin-Biden online summit planned for December,” Zharov wrote.