Vladimir Putin could be set to fire Russian nuclear weapons from Belarus as deployment of the nukes was agreed.
Dictator Alexander Lukashenko is poised to accept Russian nuclear missiles on his territory and the siting of atomic weapons in the landlocked state will ominously bring them closer to NATO countries.
Lukashenko claimed in a meeting with Putin’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov that he was against war with the West, and saw the expected deployment as a deterrent.
He likened the current crisis to 1941 when the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, grabbing today’s Belarus.
“The warehouses with nuclear ammunition are in Russia, we do not have any yet,” he said, even though preparations are evidently underway at a former Soviet nuclear base to reopen a facility.
NATO had “nuclear ammunition” in six countries, he said, echoing Putin’s words.
Lukashenko added: “We haven't done it yet [received nuclear warheads from Russia], but we should be ready.”
He warned that 1941 was the year when Soviets understood they were under attack form the Nazis.
“We believe now too,” he said, adding referring to a supposed Western threat,
But “we must keep the gunpowder dry, in all directions”.
He denied deployment of modern Russian nuclear weapons on his land was a reason for people to “whine or shout that ‘Putin captured Belarus here’, or ‘whatever he wants, he does’…”
Pushing back on Putin’s suspected efforts to force a close union with Belarus, Lukashenko said: “We have an agreed, reasonable policy of two sovereign states…”
On the supposed threat from the West, he said: “We are absolutely sane, soberly aware of what is happening around us.
“And it is better to show what can be, rather than that it will happen. We don't need this war.”
Lavrov indicated that responsibility for deployment of the nuclear missiles would be for both “supreme commanders-in-chief” - Putin and Lukashenko.
Foes of Lukashenko accuse him of massive human rights abuses, the jailing of political foes, and blatant vote-rigging to stay in power after losing an election.
There are claims an old Soviet missile base in Belarus is being readied to host Putin's latest deadly nuclear weapons.
Reports say regular Russian inspections of the derelict site are underway.
The old nuclear weapons base named Zhitkovichi is near Cheretyanka village, in the Gomel region of Belarus which borders Ukraine.
Military unit 42691, call sign ‘Sad’, hosted nuclear weapons from 1959 until 1996, five years after the breakup of the Soviet Union.
Belarus in 1996 gave up its inherited nuclear arsenal which was returned to Moscow.
A referendum in Belarus in February permitted the country to host nuclear weapons once more, and permanently act as a base for Russian troops.
In the past, the Topol strategic missile system was deployed at Zhitkovichi by the USSR.
Putin’s new Sarmat - or Satan-2 - hypersonic missile has a range of 11,200 miles and can strike at targets at 15,880mph.
The 6,670 mph Tsirkon missile has a range of 625 miles .
