Belarus: Use Of Nuclear Weapons Possible If Enemies Breach Border, US Considers Sending Longer-Range Missiles To Kyiv

Although Belarus has stated repeatedly that it has control of the nuclear weapons placed within its territory, Moscow has stated that Minsk does not.

MINSK/MOSCOW - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday during an interview with a Russian state-run television program that while Belarus refrains from using nuclear weapons, it could use them if its borders are breached by an adversary, adding that it warned its adversaries of this fact when Russia moved nuclear weapons to Belarus in 2023.

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Ukraine has also begun receiving American-made F-16 fighter jets from Europe, and a new report says that the Biden Administration is working out the details on sending Ukraine longer-range cruise missiles that could be capable of hitting Moscow from Ukrainian territory. Russia has stated that providing longer-range missiles to Ukraine would be crossing a red line.

In the first deployment of tactical nuclear weapons outside of Russian territory since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia’s decision to deploy tactical nukes in Belarus resulted in condemnation from the United States, calling the move “irresponsible behavior” on Russia’s part.

Moscow and Minsk agreed on the procedure for deploying tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. The defense ministers of both sides signed the respective documents.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has said that the country's tactical nukes being placed within Belarus are indefinite, unless the United States removes its own nukes from Europe.

After the nuclear weapons were moved to Belarus Russia claimed that it had full control over them and that Belarus did not, but Lukashenko has repeatedly made claims that Belarus had control over launching them, contradicting Moscow's claims.

Russia has blamed the presence of nuclear weapons by NATO-allied countries in Europe, as well as the West sending depleted uranium shells to Ukraine on its decision to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

U.S. President Joe Biden said when the nuclear weapons were moved to Belarus last year that the threat of Russian President Vladimir Putin using a tactical nuclear weapon is "real" but "absolutely irresponsible".

"When I was out here about two years ago saying I worried about the Colorado River drying up, everybody looked at me like I was crazy," Biden said at the time.

"They looked at me like when I said I worry about Putin using tactical nuclear weapons. It's real," Biden added.

Lukashenko: We Don't Want War With NATO, But If They Cross That Line [Our State Border], We Will Have No Other Choice