Among the many disturbing geopolitical signs of tension between Russia and the Western powers, very few are as disturbing as the displacement of Russian tactical nuclear weapons to the territory of Belarus.
The positioning of the nukes is intended as a defense against both Ukraine and Poland.
Tactical nuclear weapons are designed for battlefield use and carry a smaller payload for specific location attacks – as opposed to much more powerful strategic intercontinental nuclear missiles.
In the old world, these weapons should give pause and make NATO rethink its push eastward by seeing that powerful retribution can be expected.
Nowadays, it does seem like nuclear deterrence has lost its persuasion power – which is very concerning since an attack is a real possibility in the current geopolitical moment.
The board is set – the pieces are moving. And the nukes arrived in Belarus.
Associated Press reported:
“The president of Belarus said Monday that Russia has completed its shipments of tactical nuclear weapons to his country, an initiative that raised strong concerns in neighboring Poland and elsewhere in the region.
President Alexander Lukashenko said at a meeting of a Moscow-led economic bloc in St. Petersburg that the shipments were completed in October, but he did not give details of how many weapons were sent or where they have been deployed.
Tactical nuclear weapons, which are intended for use on the battlefield, have a short range and a low yield compared with much more powerful nuclear warheads fitted to long-range missiles. Russia said it would maintain control over those it sends to Belarus.”
Lukashenko stated that hosting Russian nuclear weapons in his country is a move to check aggression by Poland.
While Russian troops based in Belarus invaded Ukraine from the north in the war’s opening days, Belarusian forces themselves are not known to have participated.
But what can we know about the ‘tactical’ nukes?
Sky News reported:
“They can have a yield as small as about 1 kiloton, significantly less than the 15 kiloton-yield of the US bomb used on Hiroshima during the Second World War. […] The devices are compact and can be discreetly carried on a truck or plane.
[…] Belarus has 25 underground facilities – built during the Cold War – for nuclear-tipped intermediate-range missiles that can withstand missile attacks, Mr Alesin added.
Only five or six such depots could actually store tactical nuclear weapons, he said, but the military operates at all of them to throw Western intelligence off.”
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