(Kyiv) Ukraine called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Sunday to counter Russia’s “nuclear blackmail” after Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow would deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus.
The European Union has threatened Minsk with new sanctions if this deployment is carried out, while the United States has indicated that it has “no indication” that Moscow intends to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
Belarus, an ally of Moscow, borders Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania.
“Ukraine expects effective actions to counter the Kremlin’s nuclear blackmail from the UK, China, the US and France” as permanent members of the UN Security Council, the Ukrainian foreign ministry said in a statement.
“We demand that an extraordinary meeting of the United Nations Security Council be convened immediately for this purpose”, he added, also calling on the G7 and the EU to put pressure on Belarus by threatening it with “consequences considerable” if he were to accept the Russian deployment.
The first Western country to react to Vladimir Putin’s announcement, Germany denounced a “new attempt at nuclear intimidation” by Moscow.
“We are not going to let ourselves be deviated from our course” by these threats, an official from the German Foreign Ministry told AFP on condition of anonymity.
NATO slammed “dangerous and irresponsible nuclear rhetoric”, saying it was “monitoring the situation closely”. And the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell denounced an “irresponsible escalation and a threat to European security”, warning that the EU was “ready” to adopt new sanctions against Minsk.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said nothing at this stage would cause the US “to change (their) position on strategic deterrence”.
“Scare”
Earlier Sunday, the secretary of the Ukrainian Security Council Oleksiï Danilov had estimated that “the Kremlin has (was) taking Belarus as a nuclear hostage” and that the Russian intention represented a “step towards the internal destabilization of the country”, directed from 1994 by Alexander Lukashenko.
Vladimir Putin announced on Saturday that Russia will deploy “tactical” nuclear weapons in Belarus and that ten planes have already been equipped to be ready to use this kind of weaponry.
PHOTO ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
In this photo taken from a video released by the Russian Defense Ministry’s press service in December 2022, Russian soldiers take part in exercises at an unspecified location in Belarus.
“There is nothing unusual here: the United States has been doing this for decades. They have long been deploying their tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of their allies,” Putin said in an interview with Russian television.
“We have agreed to do the same”, he added, saying that he planned to “train the crews” from April 3 and to “complete the construction of a special warehouse for tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus » 1er July.
The United States stores nuclear weapons at bases in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey. “Tactical” nuclear weapons are less powerful than “strategic” ones, but their effects remain deadly and unpredictable.
Mr. Putin “admits that he is afraid of losing (the war) and that all he can do is scare,” tweeted Mykhaïlo Podoliak, a Ukrainian presidential adviser, on Sunday. He also accused the Russian leader of “violating the nuclear non-proliferation treaty”.
Mr. Putin assured that this deployment in Belarus would be done “without contravening our international agreements on nuclear non-proliferation”.
If Belarus does not take a direct part in the conflict in Ukraine, Moscow has used its territory to lead its offensive on Kyiv in 2022 or to carry out strikes, according to the Ukrainian authorities.
Uranium shells
Vladimir Putin motivated his decision on Saturday by the United Kingdom’s desire to send depleted uranium munitions to Ukraine, as recently mentioned by a British official.
Mr. Putin threatened to also use this type of shell, used to pierce armor, if Kyiv were to receive any. He called this type of weapon shell among “the most dangerous” and which “generates what is called radiation dust”.
Several Russian officials, including former President Dmitry Medvedev, have however threatened Ukraine and Westerners with nuclear weapons since the start of the Russian offensive launched on February 24, 2022.
Russian nuclear doctrine does not provide for the preventive use by Russia of nuclear weapons, but only in response to an attack against it or its allies, or in the event of a “threat to the very existence of the state”.