Russia will station tactical nuclear weapons in neighbouring Belarus in response to Britain’s decision to provide Ukraine with armor-piercing rounds, President Vladimir Putin announced today.
The rounds which are set to be provided to Kyiv’s forces contain depleted uranium, and Moscow has falsely claimed that they have nuclear components as it escalates its confrontation with Ukraine and its allies.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a staunch supporter of the invasion, has long asked for the weapons on the territory, Putin said during an interview on Russian state television.
It will be the first time since the mid-1990s that Moscow will have based such arms outside of the country, something it says the US has done for decades.
Putin made the announcement at a time of growing tensions with the West over the war in Ukraine and as some Russian commentators speculate about possible nuclear strikes.