Russian Generals’ Intentions of Stationing Nuclear weapons in Belarus :: Charter'97 :: News

Russia should deploy tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus in return to deployment of the US antimissile system components in the Czech Republic and Poland, president of the Geopolitical Academy Colonel General Leonid Ivashov considers.

“The necessity of such actions results from the threats caused to Russia and Belarus by the NATO countries. Belarus also needs the new Russian military facilities to be deployed on its territory as it was mentioned several times by president Alyaksandr Lukashenka” ,Ivashov declared to the Interfax-ABN.

According to him, “not the deployment of cruise ballistic missiles is meant here but of the Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons. It would fairly correspond to the Russia- Belarusian agreements on the common defense space”, the General said.

Ivashov remarked that “deployment nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus will neither turn Minsk into the military power nor breach its international obligations. As well as the US nuclear weapons deployed on the German territory have not turned Germany into the nuclear power”, the expert said.

Thus L. Ivashov commented on the declaration of the Russian Ambassador to Belarus Alyaksandr Surikov who didn’t exclude the deployment of new Russian nuclear weapon-related military facilities in Belarus.

Former commander of the antimissile division Lieutenant General Nikolai Rodionov, in his turn, called the might-be deployment of Russian operative –tactical missiles in Belarus “quite adequate.” And added that “apart from being a purely military factor it could psychologically affect the attitude of the population of the Czech Republic and Poland to the envisaged stationing of the US antimissile military facilities on the territory of those countries”.

Colonel General remarked ”that restoration of the former available infrastructure of the missile military facilities on the territory of Belarus is easier, quicker and less costly than construction of new ones , for example, on the territory of the Kaliningrad region. Furthermore, Kaliningrad is isolated from the Russia’s mainland .Delivery of military shipment there through the territory of not very friendly Baltic countries would be rather complicated”, Nikolai Rodionov said.