Lukashenko boasts of having 'several dozen' Russian nukes in Belarus

• Lukashenko said troops are ready to deploy ‘with a readiness of three hours’
• It comes after Polish President said Warsaw would host Western missiles

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has boasted his nation now hosts ‘several dozen’ Russian nuclear weapons as relations between Moscow and Europe continue to nosedive.

State news agency Belta quoted Lukashenko as saying that the war in Ukraine and rising tensions between East and West required changes to Minsk’s security stance, warning a major confrontation could end in nuclear ‘apocalypse’.

‘Nuclear deterrence – those who will push us towards it should know about it and have a rational look at the straightforward consequences of their ill-considered decisions, to put it mildly,’ Lukashenko said.

The long-serving Belarusian dictator and Vladimir Putin confirmed in December that the Kremlin planned to station some nuclear weapons in Belarus for the first time since the Soviet era.

The strongman also declared yesterday that he had moved a contingent of combat-ready troops from Vitebsk, 25 miles from Russia, closer to the border with Poland.

‘A couple of battalions with a readiness of three hours’ had been moved to the western end of Belarus where they are ‘now standing head-to-head with NATO’.

He said the move was justified because of the increased security threat amid the war in Ukraine and Western efforts to stoke conflict.

‘Washington is doing everything to drag our country into the conflict, to launch a mechanism to involve other states into it; in other words, to weaken both western Europe and eastern Europe.’

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has boasted his nation now hosts ‘several dozen’ Russian nuclear weapons as relations between Moscow and Europe continue to nosedive

T he long-serving Belarusian dictator also declared yesterday that he had moved a contingent of combat-ready troops from Vitebsk, 25 miles from Russia, closer to the border with Poland

State news agency Belta quoted Lukashenko as saying that the war in Ukraine and rising tensions between East and West required changes to the Minsk’s security stance, and warning a major confrontation could end in nuclear ‘apocalypse’

Poland is ready to host nuclear arms if NATO decides to deploy the weapons in the face of Russia reinforcing its armaments in Belarus and Kaliningrad, President Andrzej Duda said in an interview published on April 22, 2024

Lukashenko’s alarming rhetoric comes as Russia’s deputy foreign minister warned the Kremlin would make NATO nuclear weapons in Poland one of its primary targets if they are deployed there.

The unsettling statement from Sergei Ryabkov followed comments from Polish President Andrzej Duda on Monday in which he said his nation would be ready to host Western nukes.

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‘Our patience is not limitless,’ Ryabkov said in comments carried by Russia’s TASS newswire yesterday.

‘If Poland takes the path of further escalation – these verbal games with nuclear weapons – then it means there will be a further round of tension.

‘This game is very dangerous, and its consequences may be unpredictable.’

Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov also responded to Duda’s declaration, stating that Russia’s defence ministry will ‘analyse the situation… and take all the necessary retaliatory steps to guarantee our safety’.

In an interview published in Polish newspaper Fakt on Monday, Duda said his country – a member of the transatlantic security alliance – would be ready to host nuclear weapons if called upon to do so by Western partners.

Russia has ‘recently relocated its nuclear weapons to Belarus,’ Duda said.

‘If there were a decision by our allies to deploy nuclear weapons within the nuclear sharing also on our territory in order to strengthen the security of NATO’s eastern flank, we are ready.’

But his comments may have been made out of hand, with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk later telling journalists he had to discuss this suggestion with Duda urgently.

‘I would also like any potential initiatives to be, first of all, very well prepared by the people responsible for them and (I would like) all of us to be absolutely positive that we want it,’ Tusk said in a rather reserved response.

‘This idea is absolutely massive, I would say, and very serious (and) I would need to know all the circumstances that have led the president to make this declaration,’ he said.

Russia will make NATO nuclear weapons in Poland one of its primary targets if they are deployed there, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov declared today (Russian Yars nuclear missile launch is pictured)

Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko (L) and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin (R) confirmed in December that Moscow’s nukes were stationed in Belarus

A Russian Sarmat ballistic missile is seen on Red Square during Moscow’s May 9 Victory Day parade

Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski warned that a Russian attack on NATO would end in defeat for Moscow, but said NATO must increase its defences to ensure long term security (Vladimir Putin is pictured)

Meanwhile, Poland’s foreign minister yesterday called on NATO to increase its defence preparedness and said Warsaw should be at the centre of decision-making in the European Union.

Setting out his vision for Poland at the heart of Europe, Radek Sikorski warned that a Russian attack on NATO would end in defeat for Moscow, but said NATO must increase its defences to ensure long term security.

‘It is not we – the West – who should be afraid of a clash with Putin, but the other way around,’ Sikorski said.

‘It is worth recalling this, not to increase Russians’ sense of threat, because NATO is a defence pact, but to show that an attack by Russia on any of the Alliance members would inevitably end in its defeat.

‘Russia’s military and economic potential pales in comparison to that of the West. If we do not lack the will, Russia will lose. Putin’s only hope is our lack of determination.’

Polish President Duda has previously spoken of Poland’s openness to nuclear sharing within NATO, before Tusk’s government came to power in December.

Three NATO members are nuclear powers: the US, the United Kingdom and France.

Within the sharing program, the US has nuclear facilities based in some allied countries: Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey, to deploy and store the weapons.

Seven members of the alliance have dual-capability aircraft that can carry conventional bombs or nuclear warheads and are available for use should such a strike be needed.

Washington retains absolute control and custody over the weapons it deploys, and would do so if it were to reach an agreement with Poland to station nuclear weapons there too.

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