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Deployed to Russia "Strategic nuclear weapons" In Belarus, Putin said

As Russia ratchets up tensions with the West amid its ongoing war against Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin says Moscow will deploy “Strategic nuclear weapons“in Belarus. The Russian leader said 10 warplanes capable of carrying tactical nuclear weapons — usually referring to small weapons used for limited battlefield strikes rather than larger, long-range “tactical” nuclear weapons — are already deployed in Belarus. Putin’s Russia has nuclear weapons with a range of about 300 miles in Belarus. The carrier also said it would deploy Iskander hypersonic missiles.

The move was not entirely unexpected. Putin’s ground war in Ukraine has struggled to make significant gains in recent months, he repeatedly said The threat of using nuclear weapons. But the announcement of a new deployment of such weapons represented an escalation in his rhetoric, and it drew swift condemnation from the West.

Russian military

A January 31, 2022 photo taken from a video provided by the press service of the Russian Ministry of Defense shows a Russian Su-30SM2 fighter jet taking off from an airfield in Chernyakhovsk, in Russia’s far western Kaliningrad enclave.

Russian Ministry of Defense Handout/AP

The Russian dictator argued that the US-led coalition deploying nuclear-armed missiles in Western Europe was simply doing what America and NATO have been doing for years.

NATO called Putin’s justification misleading.


Chinese President Xi has concluded a three-day visit to Russia

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“Russia’s nuclear rhetoric is dangerous and irresponsible,” alliance spokeswoman Ona Lungescu said Sunday. “Russia’s reference to NATO nuclear sharing is completely misleading. NATO allies act in full respect of their international commitments… Russia has consistently broken its arms control commitments.”

“NATO is alert and we are closely monitoring the situation,” Lungescu said in the statement, adding that the alliance “has not seen any changes in Russia’s nuclear posture that would lead us to adjust our own.”

The Biden administration issued a similarly guarded response, with National Security Council spokesman John Kirby saying Sunday that the White House also “has not seen anything to indicate that Mr. Putin is preparing to use tactical nuclear weapons in any way in Ukraine.”

“I can tell you that we haven’t seen anything that could change our own strategic nuclear deterrence posture,” Kirby said.

Russia-Ukraine-Belarus-Map.jpg

CBS News

Oleksiy Danilov, Ukraine’s national security chief, has accused Russia of holding its smaller ally Belarus, which lies just north of Ukraine, “hostage” with plans to install nuclear weapons in the country.

The escalating rhetoric from Putin comes as his ground war in the muddy battlefields of eastern Ukraine stalls. Fierce fighting over the city of Bakhmut – which has borne the brunt of months of attacks as Ukrainian forces seize it and push Moscow Waves of soldiers and mercenaries to the front lines — has exploded beyond recognition.


Russian advance stalls at Bakhmu

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According to Ukraine’s top army commander, the “situation” in the war is finally “stabilizing” after eight months of relentless Russian offensive. Both sides acknowledged a terrible toll during the fighting, but the latest British military intelligence assessment said Russia had suffered particularly “massive troop losses”.

As the United States and its European allies steadily increase the flow of heavy weapons into Ukraine to help defend the country against Russian aggression, and as Putin ratchets up tensions with his announcement of Belarus’ nuclear weapons, Moscow blames an explosion deep inside Russian territory on Ukraine.

The Kremlin claimed it shot down a Ukrainian drone just 100 miles south of Moscow on Sunday, with the unmanned aircraft reportedly injuring three and leaving a 16-foot-deep crater with damage to nearby buildings.

Meanwhile, Putin’s latest nuclear threat has prompted Ukraine to demand an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, with Kiev arguing that Moscow has now proven it is “not a responsible steward” of nuclear weapons and is only using them to intimidate.

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