Putin continues nuclear blackmail - what will the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus give to Kremlin?

Putin continues nuclear blackmail - what will the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus give to  Kremlin?

 

Nika Chitadze

Director of the Center for International Studies 

Professor of the International Black Sea University

President of the George C. Marshall Alumni Union, Georgia - International and Security Research Center 

  

As is known, a few days ago Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow and Minsk agreed to deploy tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus. The construction of a special warehouse is already underway and will be completed by July 1 of this year. Therefore, it can be said that Putin's blackmailing strategy has entered the next acute phase, and it is theoretically possible that such steps will sooner or later push the world toward a nuclear confrontation. It should be noted that after the dissemination of information about the placement of nuclear weapons in Belarus, the US Department of Defense issued an emergency statement. It says that "the Pentagon sees no indication that Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons."

On the other hand, as Vladimir Putin told the Russian government media, 10 Su-25 aircraft capable of carrying tactical nuclear weapons are already stationed on the territory of Belarus. In addition, according to him, Russia has given Belarus the "Iskander" missile system, which can also launch missiles equipped with a nuclear warhead. The mastermind of Russian aggression declares that the weapons will be deployed without violating relevant international obligations. Belarus has been demanding the placement of Russian nuclear weapons on its territory for a long time. "From April 3, we start training the special forces. And on July 1, we will complete the construction of a special warehouse of tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus. We have agreed to do so without breaching our obligations. I emphasize - without violating our international obligations on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. We have already helped our Belarusian colleagues equip their planes. 10 planes are ready to use this type of weapon," Putin said.

Later it also became known that Russia stopped sharing information about its nuclear activities, including missile tests, with the US.

This statement of the Russian president was not unexpected, because Moscow and Minsk have been fighting for the introduction of Russian tactical nuclear weapons and their means of transport to Belarus for the second year, but, surprisingly, Putin has accelerated this issue when the British are going to deliver for Ukraine's "Challenger-2" type tanks. The standard sub-caliber armor-piercing projectiles for tanks are linked to the sending of projectiles because the armor-piercing rods of these projectiles are made of depleted uranium...

Depleted uranium is, in fact, a kind of waste from the enrichment of weapons-grade uranium and cannot be considered in any way related to nuclear weapons.

In addition, the British will give the Ukrainians just 14 "Challengers", which will not have hundreds of such shells in their arsenal, which do not pose any great danger from the point of view of radioactivity, although they can pierce the frontal armor of any Russian tank...

This is the main reason why Russia fears the appearance of "killers" of its tanks on the Ukrainian front, otherwise, the Kremlin is not at all interested in the ecology of Ukraine's land or water, especially since, most likely, it has secretly used and is using tank shells made of depleted uranium. Especially since Putin admitted that the Russian army has up to 100,000 tank shells made of depleted uranium...

All this is a continuation of Putin's nuclear blackmail, the main purpose of which is to intimidate the West into reducing or stopping military aid to Ukraine.

In the Kremlin, they believe that their nuclear blackmail achieves its goal to some extent if it is precise because of the nuclear factor that the US president hesitates to supply the Ukrainian army with long-range ballistic missiles and combat aircraft. It is hoped that official Washington will not follow the Russian blackmails and will at least hand over appropriate weapons to Ukraine. In this case, the Ukrainian military will reach the Russian occupiers in the deep back with 300 km long-range guided ballistic missiles and will cause much more damage than before.

It should be pointed out, that as of 2020, the strategic nuclear arsenal of the Russian Federation looked like this - 510 units of strategic nuclear warhead carriers, 1,447 nuclear warheads, and 764 combat-ready and non-combat launchers.

The width of the territory of Belarus from the border of Russia to the border of NATO member Poland is 600 km, which means that the Russian Iskander-M nuclear warhead aeroballistic missiles transported to Belarus approach Western Europe at this distance, and if the launched missile (distance of action about 500 km) from the Pskov region could reach only the eastern border of Poland, but in the nearest future the launched missile from the extreme western part of Belarus, will cover almost the whole of Poland and will also reach parts of the territories of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary, which are members of NATO...

The European Union is threatening to impose new sanctions on Russia and Belarus if Russian tactical nuclear weapons are ever found in Belarus. In its turn, Putin wants to convince the West that he can use tactical nuclear weapons...first on the territory of Ukraine. However, some of the Western leaders no longer agree with this approach, unlike the situation a year ago, in addition, American and European intelligence structures have established continuous monitoring of Russian nuclear weapons warehouses with technical and agency intelligence tools, and, as a rule, the process of observing the nuclear warheads from there will be possible.

The fact that Putin announced in advance the specific dates for the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus may indicate one thing - he sent a kind of message to Western leaders - let's trade the non-deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus in exchange for the end of Western military aid to Ukraine...

But at the same time, it can be said that Putin has lost the war, it has been known for a long time to the military specialists around him. The hardest blow that Putin received was the Hague decision. After that, Dmitry Medvedev even threatened the court with a nuclear attack. This is agony. Putin may have a lot of fears going through his head. The fear that some force minister or the head of the enforcement service may simply dethrone him or take his life away, many people may have such fears.