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Putin to site tactical nukes in Europe for the first time

By Michael Powell

VLADIMIR PUTIN raised the stakes for nuclear war last night as he vowed to place tactical nuclear weapons on European soil for the first time.

Russia’s leader said he had signed a deal to site nukes in Belarus following talks with his hardline anti-Western ally President Alexander Lukashenko.

Ten Russian aircraft capable of carrying the armaments have reportedly already been moved to the country, which borders war-torn Ukraine.

A storage facility for the weapons will be built by

July, Putin told Russian state television.

He said Lukashenko had long raised the issue of stationing tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, adding that there was ‘nothing unusual’ in the plan and that it would not violate international nuclear treaties.

Putin said: ‘The United

States has been doing this for decades. They have long deployed their tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of their allied countries.’

The US has an estimated 100 nuclear warheads at air bases on the continent.

Experts said that it was a significant escalation because Belarus borders three Nato members — Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.

‘This is part of Putin’s game to try to intimidate Nato,’ said Hans Kristensen, director of the nuclear information project at the Federation of American Scientists.

‘It’s a very significant move,’ said Nikolai Sokol, a senior fellow at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation.

‘Russia had always been very proud that it had no nuclear weapons outside its territory. So now they are changing that and it’s a big change.’

Putin also last night threatened to use depleted uranium munitions in Ukraine if Kyiv received similar arms from the West.

‘Russia of course has what it needs to answer. Without exaggeration, we have hundreds of thousands of such shells. We have not used them yet,’ he said.

The Kremlin has relied on Belarus, a former Soviet state, since its shock invasion of Ukraine 13 months ago.

Belarus has allowed Russian forces to use its territory to launch land and air attacks on Ukraine.

The country has also helped train Russian soldiers, treated casualties and provided supplies to the warzone.

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2023-03-26T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-26T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://mailonline.pressreader.com/article/281530820274096

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