Lukashenko claims to have decision-making power over use of Russia’s nukes in Belarus

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko claimed on Thursday that he had the power to make decisions regarding the use of Russian nuclear weapons stationed in his country over which President Vladimir Putin has the ultimate authority.

“The use of nuclear weapons, even if Russia decided to do it, I am sure that it would consult with its closest ally. With us,” Belarus state media cited him as saying, adding that control over the nuclear weapons was undertaken jointly by Belarus and Russia.

He said: “If I don’t want something, or our people, our state doesn’t want it, then it won’t [happen].”

In March, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who controls the world’s largest nuclear force, unveiled a strategy to station tactical nuclear warheads in Belarus. This decision marked Moscow's initial positioning of such weaponry outside Russian borders since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Putin maintained that this arrangement did not violate the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. He argued that, akin to the US formal control over its nuclear arms in Europe, Russia would retain control over these weapons in Belarus.

In mid-June Putin announced that the first Russian nuclear warheads have already been delivered to Belarus and the entire batch will be deployed by the end of the year. Meanwhile, Lukashenko stated that the tactical nuclear weapons that Russia deployed in Belarus were three times as powerful as the bombs used by the US in Japan’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Lukashenko reiterated that the nukes were simply a defensive deterrent and there were no plans to use them to attack any country. However, “if you commit aggression against Belarus, the answer will be instantaneous. The goals have been determined.”

Asked about handing sovereignty of the country to outsiders, Lukashenko vehemently denied any sovereignty was given away. “We did not give any sovereignty to anyone. Sovereignty is power within the borders of a certain state. Who, apart from our power structures, including the President of Belarus, exercises power here?”

Lukashenko said a “number of nuclear warheads have been moved to the territory of Belarus,” gloating over the fact that Western spy agencies missed their movement from Russia to Belarus.

“I’ll give you a killer fact: we didn’t move nuclear warheads on the ground,” adding that neither the US, MI6 or Germany detected the movements which was “the intention”.

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