Nuclear weapons in Belarus Nuclear threat from Russia continues to grow
The threat to NATO's eastern flank from Russian nuclear weapons is increasing. Nuclear warheads are now stored at two sites in Belarus.
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- Russian nuclear weapons are stationed at two locations in Belarus.
- This increases the threat to NATO's eastern flank.
- According to experts, this is part of Russia's strategy to strengthen its nuclear deterrent.
"I brought nuclear warheads here, and not just a single dozen of them." According to the news portal "Newsweek", Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko confirmed the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in his country with this sentence.
The reason is simple: the proximity of the sites in Belarus to NATO members Poland, Lithuania and Latvia increases the potential threat. Targets could thus be reached more easily and more precisely.
Main locations of nuclear weapons
A map and a recent satellite analysis by "Newsweek" show two main sites: a military depot near Assipovichy in central Belarus and a potential storage site in Prudok, which is even closer to the north-eastern border.
According to experts, these modernizations are part of Russia's strategy to strengthen its nuclear deterrent on NATO's eastern border. Russian President Vladimir Putin had previously announced the completion of "special storage facilities", updated Russian nuclear doctrine and lowered the threshold for the use of such weapons. The new policy thus allows a nuclear response even to conventional attacks.
Putin's nuclear update followed US President Joe Biden's decision to allow Ukraine to operate deep inside Russian territory with US-supplied missiles.
To reinforce the threat, the Russian and Belarusian armed forces have conducted joint nuclear exercises - with short-range ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads and aircraft equipped to carry nuclear bombs.
