The Russian government has cited heightened tensions with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Western powers as the reason for the new deal, signing a deal formalizing the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
“At a time when the threat on the western border of Russia and Belarus has escalated sharply, a decision has been taken on military and nuclear countermeasures,” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told the Council of Defense Ministers of the Collective Security Treaty. . Organization of Minsk (CSTO).
Shoigu said Russia transferred the nuclear-capable Iskander-M tactical missile system to the Belarusian Armed Forces, as well as the Su-25 fighter jets re-equipped to carry nuclear weapons.
The defense minister also added that Belarusian military personnel have already received the necessary training.
Belarus shares a border of about 1,100 miles with Ukraine, but Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, is closer to Belarus’s southern tip than Russia.
(Adrian Norman/Timcast News)
The growing threat of tactical nuclear weapons being used in the region comes just days after militants entered Russia from Ukraine, struck multiple targets and forced their evacuation.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Russian forces had defeated enemy fighters with airstrikes, artillery fire and actions of border forces, resulting in the deaths of more than 70 Ukrainian fighters, blaming Ukrainian authorities for the cross-border invasion. claimed.
Recent nuclear exercises involving NATO forces have also been cited by the Russian government as a basis for strengthening its nuclear posture near Ukraine.
“The extremely rapid escalation of the threat situation and the activities of NATO’s joint nuclear mission are forcing us to take retaliatory measures in the military and nuclear fields,” Shoigu said. “Following the decision of our Supreme Commander, our country has deployed Russian non-strategic nuclear weapons on the territory of the Republic of Belarus.”
Much of the mainstream media, along with the current leadership of the US government under the Biden administration, has blamed Russia squarely for the conflict, calling Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine “unprovoked.” It is often mentioned that there are
However, this view is based on available archives that show US defense officials have warned for decades about what steps the US and NATO should take to avoid such a confrontation with Russia. We omit the records that have been
Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs points to two main factors driving the current conflict.
1. The US intends to extend NATO to Ukraine and Georgia in order to encircle Russia in the Black Sea region by NATO countries (Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey and Georgia in counter-clockwise order).
2. The US role in establishing a Russophobic regime in Ukraine with the violent overthrow of Ukraine’s pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014. The shootout in Ukraine didn’t start in February 2022, but nine years ago with the overthrow of Yanukovych. Governments, NATO and G7 leaders would have us believe.
Sachs, who has served as an adviser to three UN secretary-generals, wrote in a recent op-ed:
Biden and his foreign policy team refuse to discuss the roots of these wars. Accepting them undermines the regime in three ways. First, it would expose the fact that the war could have been avoided or stopped early in spite of Ukraine’s current devastation and US spending of more than $100 billion to date. . Second, it recognizes President Biden’s personal role in the war as a participant in the overthrow of Yanukovych and, before that, as a staunch supporter of the military-industrial complex and a very early proponent of NATO expansion. will be exposed. Third, it would bring Mr. Biden to the negotiating table, undermining the administration’s continued push for NATO expansion.
During a meeting with Prime Minister Shoigu in Belarus on May 25, Shoigu said, “Today we are confronted with a group of Western powers who are effectively waging an undeclared war against our country.” Told.
On the same day, Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Kurenin said that a deployment of tactical opacity “would be an effective response to the aggressive policies of unfriendly countries, and we hope that it will be seen by their leaders.” We hope it will make you think about the unacceptability of further escalation in the region.”
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