NUCLEAR POWER IN BELARUS AND WORLDWIDE
MINSK, 23 May (BelTA) – Statements made by Lithuanian National Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas about nuclear threats originating from Belarus are unjustified and simply absurd, BelTA learned from Andrei Chernobai, an analyst with the Belarusian Institute of Strategic Research (BISR). The statements were made during a recent trip to Washington.
Andrei Chernobai said: “There are plans to deploy Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus' territory purely for defensive purposes. For protecting the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of our country and for the sake of ensuring the military security of the Union State of Belarus and Russia as whole.”
The analyst went on saying: “As they declared the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, the presidents Aleksandr Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin emphasized that international commitments concerning the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons will not be violated by this move. And it is truly so: Russian nuclear weapons or control over the weapons will not be transferred to the Belarusian side, this is why I cannot say that the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons has been violated.”
As for Arvydas Anusauskas' regret about the insufficiently serious political reaction of the international community to preparations for deploying tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, the Lithuanian national defense minister needs to recall his own comment about the matter. On 26 March 2023 he told Western politicians that there is no need to be distracted by the deployment.
“It appears that such a dramatic change in the position of the Lithuanian minister regarding the deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus and all the rhetoric about imaginary military threats to the Baltic States from Russia and Belarus are related exclusively to the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius. Lithuania pins special hopes on it, including in terms of further militarization of the Baltic region,” Andrei Chernobai concluded.
