Bulgaria called for talks after words about nuclear weapons in Belarus
Bulgarian Vice President Iliyana Yotova called for talks between Russia and Ukraine in connection with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement on the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus. This was reported by the dpa agency on Sunday, March 26.
According to Yotova, the situation is becoming “increasingly dangerous and frightening” and therefore she and Bulgarian President Rumen Radev have repeatedly called for negotiations. “These are not empty words,” underlined Yotova, adding that a greater number of weapons in all countries leads to unpredictable decisions and, in practice, threatens with a serious war.
“I hope that reason still prevails and that it is more about threats than real actions,” added Yotova.
Russia installs nuclear weapons in Belarus
The day before, Putin said that Russia would deploy Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. According to the Russian president, 10 aircraft capable of carrying tactical nuclear weapons and the Iskander missile system have already been deployed in Belarus. In addition, on July 1, 2023, construction of a storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons will be completed in Belarus, Putin announced.
He added that Russia does not transfer weapons to Belarus, but only places them, which means that this step does not violate the agreement on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. According to him, Russia is doing “the same thing that the United States has been doing for decades” by deploying tactical nuclear weapons in NATO countries.
western reaction
The German government has criticized the measure announced by Putin, calling it “another attempt at a nuclear scare”. “The comparison with NATO’s joint nuclear missions is misleading and cannot justify the measure announced by Russia,” said the spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry.
For its part, the US government said that Washington will continue to monitor the situation. “We see no reason to adjust the deployment of our own nuclear forces, nor any signs that Russia is ready to use nuclear weapons. We remain committed to collective defense within the NATO alliance,” the Pentagon press service said.
Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) Oleksiy Danilov, commenting on Vladimir Putin’s statement, called Belarus a “nuclear hostage” of the Kremlin. “Putin’s statement on the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus – a step towards the country’s internal destabilization – maximizes the level of negative perception and public rejection in Belarusian society of Russia and Putin,” Danilov wrote on Twitter.
Source: DW
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