It was at the end of March that Vladimir Putin revealed that Russia had agreed with Belarus to place tactical nuclear weapons in the neighboring country. On Thursday morning, the framework for the deployment was signed by the countries’ defense ministers, and later the Belarusian president stated that the process was underway.
Although in practice it does not lead to a major nuclear threat to the West because there are already nuclear weapons in the Kaliningrad area and in other areas nearby, according to Carl Bildt. He explains that it is about mobile robot systems that have been around for a long time and can easily be moved when needed.
– The risk of escalation is not affected by where the nuclear weapons are in peacetime, he says.
“Marking”
According to Carl Bildt, the reason for the nuclear weapons transfer is that Russia wants to be intimidated, but he does not think it will succeed.
– And maybe they do it to make Lukashenko feel a little more important than he actually is.
However, Carl Bildt emphasizes that Russia is very careful with the control of its nuclear weapons.
– It’s not something they throw out at random or let other than very special units handle.