{"id":34313,"date":"2022-02-28T16:52:59","date_gmt":"2022-02-28T16:52:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2022\/02\/28\/eu-decries-potential-russian-nuclear-weapons-deployment-after-belarus-referendum\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:51:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:51:15","slug":"eu-decries-potential-russian-nuclear-weapons-deployment-after-belarus-referendum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2022\/02\/28\/eu-decries-potential-russian-nuclear-weapons-deployment-after-belarus-referendum\/","title":{"rendered":"EU decries potential Russian nuclear weapons deployment after Belarus referendum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WARSAW, Poland \u2014 The European Union has voiced its worries over Sunday\u2019s Belarusian referendum which enables the authorities there to modify the constitution\u2019s article describing Belarus as a \u201cnuclear-free zone\u201d and a \u201cneutral\u201d state, potentially allowing Russia to deploy additional nuclear weapons along NATO\u2019s eastern flank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Josep Borrell, the head of the European Union\u2019s foreign affairs and security policy, said in a tweet Monday the vote was carried out by Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko \u201cto gain additional tools to further consolidate his power.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe deletion of Article 18 on Belarus\u2019s non-nuclear status is greatly worrying,\u201d Borrell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The development comes amid Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine and intensifying threats by the former country\u2019s president, Vladimir Putin, directed at the West. The authoritarian leader has warned NATO allies that their interference in Moscow\u2019s war against Kyiv could lead to a nuclear conflict in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Organized on the initiative of Lukashenko, who remains one of Putin\u2019s closest foreign allies, the constitutional referendum had a turnout of 78.6 percent, of which 65.2 percent were said to approve the proposed amendments, according to official data released by the state-run Central Election Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Numerous Western organizations, such as the Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, have decried the referendum as \u201cheld in an environment of fear and repression,\u201d and the vote was accompanied by mass arrests of protestors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lukashenko\u2019s regime has long depended economically and militarily on the Kremlin\u2019s support. On Feb. 24, Belarus facilitated Russia\u2019s attack on Ukraine by allowing Russian tanks to roll across the Belarusian-Ukrainian border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last November, Lukashenko announced Minsk was in talks with Moscow to acquire <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/global\/europe\/2021\/11\/15\/belarus-eyes-iskander-missiles-amid-border-crisis-with-poland\/\">Iskander<\/a> missile systems for the Belarusian armed forces. This would allow Belarus to increase its missile launchers\u2019 range from about 300 km (186 miles) to 500 km (311 miles), he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lukashenko\u2019s regime has long depended economically and militarily on the Kremlin\u2019s support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":73591,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":46,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,46,11,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3389],"class_list":["post-34313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-europe","category-global","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"CAAAUERUNNGBFNSGQK32DGQCR4","arc_canonical_url":"\/global\/europe\/2022\/02\/28\/eu-decries-potential-russian-nuclear-weapons-deployment-after-belarus-referendum\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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