Belarus has announced that its armed forces have begun training exercises with nuclear weapons, in what Minsk has described as an effort to improve readiness in the use of “modern means of destruction, including special munitions”.
The Belarusian Defence Ministry said on May 18 the drills were a series of exercises for the operational use of nuclear weapons and nuclear support, carried out under the supervision of the chief of the general staff of the armed forces and a deputy defence minister.
According to the ministry, the manoeuvres are intended to sharpen personnel training, verify the availability of combat equipment and material, and organise the use of forces from unplanned areas. The exercises involve missile forces and military aviation units.
Cooperation measures with Russia for the delivery of nuclear munitions are also planned, the ministry said, including the covert movement of weapons over long distances.
Amid rising tension over a possible Belarusian role in the invasion of Ukraine, Minsk has insisted the activities are not directed at third countries and do not threaten regional security.
Moscow, for its part, has rejected any intention of carrying out attacks from Belarusian territory and accused Kyiv of seeking to raise tension with such claims.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the assertions were “an attempt to incite war further and increase tension”. He added that Belarus was an ally of Russia but, above all, a sovereign State, a line repeated since the war began more than four years ago.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko agreed in 2023 to host Russian tactical nuclear weapons, the first deployment of Russian nuclear weapons outside Russian territory since the collapse of the Soviet Union, according to international reports. Russian President Vladimir Putin has made clear that Moscow retains control of their use.
The drills have come as Ukraine warned that Russia was attempting to draw Belarus further into the conflict. Belarus borders Ukraine and NATO members Poland, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as the EU.
Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya criticised the drills, saying the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons had turned Belarus into a target, according to news agency reports.
The exercises have also followed the expiry in February of the New START treaty between Russia and the United States, which had been the last bilateral limit on the two countries’ strategic nuclear arsenals, ending the last remaining bilateral restrictions on the deployment of strategic nuclear arsenals by the two countries.
