Vladimir Putin has made a trip to his closest ally in Europe to discuss tactical nuclear exercises in a chilling move which will heighten World War 3 fears.
The Russian despot’s visit comes as Rishi Sunak said “the world is more dangerous than it has been since the end of the Cold War” when he announced the General Election this week.
Russia has starting to deploy nuclear weapons inside Belarus, a country that lies to the north of Ukraine and which hosted Russia’s ill-fated forces during the failed February 2022 attack on Kyiv at the start of the illegal invasion.
Both Russia and Belarus began military drills involving tactical nuclear weapons earlier this month. Moscow said its drills, announced publicly for the first time on May 6, were a response to statements by Western officials signalling possibly deeper involvement in the war in Ukraine.
Moscow has emphasised that the tactical nuclear weapons deployed to Belarus remain under Russian military control.
Unlike nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles that can destroy entire cities, tactical nuclear weapons intended for use against troops on the battlefield are less powerful. Such weapons include aerial bombs, warheads for short-range missiles and artillery munitions.
The deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, which has a 673-mile border with Ukraine, would allow Russian aircraft and missiles to reach potential targets there more easily and quickly if Moscow decides to use them.
It also extends Russia’s capability to target several NATO allies in Eastern and Central Europe.
In Britain, MPs have backed legislation blocking companies from exporting “items critical to Russian weapons systems and its military development” from the UK to Belarus, and from importing Belarussian aluminium.
Introducing the legislation in the House of Commons, Foreign Office minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said: “In recent years, the UK has transformed its use of sanctions. We have deployed sanctions in innovative and impactful ways, including in our response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”
Ms Trevelyan added restrictions on “although the UK nexus with the Belarussian economy is limited, the signalling impact of our sanctions on Belarus is and will remain important”.
She said: “We keep these sanctions under constant review and, of course, we reserve the right to introduce further measures, so the Lukashenko regime continues to feel the consequences for its lack of respect for human rights and its support for Putin’s war.”
Shadow Foreign Office minister Catherine West said the measures would help to “dismantle the ecosystem of illicit finance, (in) which designated persons skirt sanctions and retain access to their wealth”.
