Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the exiled leader of the Belarusian opposition, has expressed concerns about the potential transfer of nuclear weapons from Russia to Belarus, warning of the risks of placing such weapons “in the hands of a crazy dictator.”
Her remarks came after Alexander Lukashenko confirmed that the first “missiles and bombs” had arrived in Belarus.
Speaking to the BBC in Warsaw, Tikhanovskaya criticized Western politicians for their silence regarding the first deployment of tactical nuclear weapons outside of Russia since the collapse of the USSR in 1991.
Lukashenko, the authoritarian leader of Belarus, made the announcement during a staged discussion with a Russian state TV presenter. The setting featured military trucks and equipment carefully positioned in the background.
When asked to clarify his statement about the arrival of weapons, Lukashenko chuckled and replied, “Not all of them. Gradually.”
Lukashenko is widely regarded as a key ally of Russia, and Belarus has been seen as a launchpad for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In a move seemingly intended to unsettle Ukraine’s Western allies, Lukashenko emphasized that the Russian bombs were “three times more powerful” than those dropped by the US on Nagasaki and Hiroshima during World War Two.
He further claimed that he had not merely requested the nuclear weapons from Putin but had instead demanded their return. Lukashenko justified the need for such weapons as protection against external aggression, a false threat he has used to justify his repression of political opposition.
Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, declared victory in the disputed 2020 elections, sparking mass protests and a brutal crackdown by the Belarusian KGB security service and riot police.
Belarus, like Ukraine and Kazakhstan, gave up its nuclear arsenal in the 1990s in return for security guarantees from post-Soviet Russia and the West. That makes this a significant reversal, although there is as yet no proof that the Russian weapons have been delivered.
Mr Putin first announced the transfer in March, pointing out that the US has deployed similar weapons in Europe. He later said the move would only take place when storage sites had been prepared, but Alexander Lukashenko now says Belarus has “more storage sites than village dogs” and several have already been renovated.
Moscow says it will retain control of the missiles, which are tactical – not longer-range strategic weapons.
“I am not planning to fight the US… tactical weapons are fine,” Mr Lukashenko said. “And the Iskander [rocket] travels 500 kilometres (310 miles) or more.”
“This deployment creates no new threat to Nato countries, so they don’t take it seriously,”Ms Tikhanovskaya argued, believing that Western countries see no difference between a missile fired from Russia or from Belarus.
Russia already has nuclear weapons in its western-most Kaliningrad region, putting Poland and the Baltic states well within range.
“But Belarus is our country and we don’t want nuclear weapons,” Ms Tikhanovskaya said. “This is like the last step to keeping our independence. And they [in the West] are staying silent about that.”