Putin’s closest ally, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, has issued a veiled nuclear threat as he boasted about receiving missile systems from Russia.
Lukashenko has relied on Putin to stay in power since he claimed victory in a disputed election in 2020 that was widely seen as rigged; it was followed by a brutal crackdown on the opposition. In turn, Putin has used Belarus as a staging post for his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, although Lukashenko has managed to avoid Minsk’s direct involvement in the conflict.
Russia and Belarus agreed to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus last May, although Moscow said it would keep control over the weapons, intended for battlefield use with short ranges and comparatively low yields. In May, Lukashenko instructed his officials to develop an “algorithm” for their use. Newsweek has contacted the Russian Foreign Ministry by email for comment.
While visiting a car factory in the Minsk region on Friday, Lukashenko said that Belarus had “received such systems as Iskander from the Russians,” which was a “particularly dangerous weapon.”
“I’m not even talking about nuclear weapons, which put everyone in their place. As soon as nuclear weapons appeared in Belarus, everyone backed down,” Lukashenko added, including “our crazy neighbors and others.”
The system was coded, but Lukashenko said, “I signed a decree on how to use these weapons” that could be used only with the consent of the Belarusian president, defense minister and the head of the military.
“Peace is expensive and we should thank the Russians; they helped us a lot last year,” Lukashenko added in comments broadcast by state media.
A clip of Lukashenko’s comments was posted on X, formerly Twitter, by Ukrainian internal affairs adviser Anton Gerashchenko, who wrote: “Lukashenko did not miss the opportunity to threaten his neighbors.
“He said that the missiles received from Russia could be aimed at Poland, which he accused of planning an invasion of Belarus,” Gerashchenko added.
On January 16, Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said Minsk would create a new military doctrine included the use of nuclear weapons. Belarus had both tactical and long-range nuclear weapons as part of the Soviet Union, but after its collapse, they were transferred to Russia.
“A new chapter has appeared, where we clearly define our allied obligations to our allies,” Khrenin said at a meeting of the Security Council of Belarus, without giving details on how it related to Russian weaponry.
What Are Iskander Missiles? Nuclear-Capable Weapons in Belarus
The 9K720 Iskander is a mobile short-range ballistic missile system produced and deployed by the Russian military. It can travel up to seven times the speed of sound at an altitude of 30 miles and has a range of more than 300 miles.
With a NATO reporting name SS-26 Stone, the system has several conventional warheads including one for cluster munitions. It can also carry nuclear warheads.
Developed in the 1990s, the Iskander had state trials and finally entered Russian service in 2006. In 2010, Russia tested an updated missile—the 9M723-1, which came into service in 2012, according to the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
