Why Russia and Belarus have chosen tactics similar to those of the United States and NATO in the nuclear sphere
Kommersant: Russia and Belarus use practices similar to those of the United States and violate nuclear practices
December 20 President of Russia and Belarus participation in Minsk. Following the press conference, the head of state spoke about the re-equipment of aircraft in the army entrances “air-based with a special warhead.”
This form of cooperation is not our invention. The United States, for example, is conducting outreach activities to bring parties together.
Vladimir Putin
Alexander Lukashenko is also discussed that the authorship of the practice belongs to non-public union states. At the end of June, the President of Belarus suggested to Putin the possibility of a mirror response to the current actions of the United States and NATO.
This is not a threat to anyone. <...> We have big concerns <...> Tension along the perimeter of the borders of the Union State, primarily in the west. And we would have to secure the Belarusian state.
Alexander Lukashenko
“Everything is ready”
In response to Lukashenka’s request, Putin recalled that about two hundred American tactical nuclear warheads are concentrated in Europe. In six states of Europe there are 257 vehicles ready to carry these ammunition. In this regard, the proposed by the Russian leader Lukashenko to re-equip the Belarusian Su-25 and “start training the summer squad.”
Photo: website of the President of Belarus
Just two months later, the Belarusian president told reporters that “everything is ready.” Most of all, the reasons for choosing the Su-25 as a carrier of nuclear warheads were of interest. Neither in the USSR, nor in Belarus, nor in the attack aircraft of Russia were they considered in such cases. Nobody ever heard.
There is a well-known joke that in the domestic tradition a special warhead is provided for everything that is larger than an anti-tank missile. Accordingly, it is quite possible that the animation of the suitable potential of Soviet aircraft was repeated “on the circle”.
Dmitry Stefanovich
Research Fellow, Center for International Security, IMEMO RAS
Mirror response
According to Kommersant, at first glance, Russia and Belarus used it behind the previously established US and its NATO allies. In particular, cases of violation of the first two paragraphs of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) were deployed. These articles stipulate prohibitions on the transfer of nuclear weapons to non-nuclear states and the acceptance of such armed forces without exception.
However, NATO freely implements joint nuclear missions with non-nuclear countries and trains pilots for carrier aircraft. Russia’s claims on this score have been rejected over and over again in the West. According to the representatives of the North and the United States, the Alliance has control over the total coverage, it was not transferred to parts of the territory during the coverage of the missions.
End of restraint
The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, explained to Kommersant that the Russian-Belarusian practice was a response to NATO’s joint nuclear missions. The Americans, according to the diplomat, are currently actively modernizing their nuclear bombs and carrier aircraft.
“There is an intensification of scientific research by NATO countries on working out the issues of planning and using weapons, and the number of bloc member states involved in such training is expanding. The anti-Russian nature of the activity is not hidden, ”Zakharova added.
Photo: Vitaliy Vodolazsky/Shutterstock/Fotodom
There are increasing calls in the West to increase the number of US nuclear bombs in the warehouses of North and South America, to strengthen the NATO contingent on the eastern borders of the Alliance and link the nuclear arsenal in Poland.
“We have shown restraint for a long time. For years, in accordance with the recommendations, we continue to insist on the renunciation of universal nuclear weapons for national use and the limited use of non-nuclear countries to develop their use, ”Zakharova said, specifying that all these provisions are contained in rejected by the US and NATO agreements onsecurity guarantees.
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