{"id":72579,"date":"2023-03-26T14:53:02","date_gmt":"2023-03-26T14:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/03\/26\/putin-taking-belarus-as-nuclear-hostage-ukraine-official-says\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T15:24:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T15:24:59","slug":"putin-taking-belarus-as-nuclear-hostage-ukraine-official-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/flashpoints\/2023\/03\/26\/putin-taking-belarus-as-nuclear-hostage-ukraine-official-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Putin taking Belarus as \u2018nuclear hostage,\u2019 Ukraine official says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">KYIV, Ukraine \u2014 Ukraine\u2019s top security official on Sunday denounced the Kremlin\u2019s plans to station <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/russia-belarus-nuclear-weapons-2d9584534da25c00c56dbf7b14694e0e\" target=\"_blank\">tactical atomic weapons<\/a> in Belarus, saying that Russia was taking its ally as a \u201cnuclear hostage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Moscow said it was making the move in response to the West\u2019s increasing military support for Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the plan in a television interview that aired on Saturday, saying it was triggered by a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/battlefield-tech\/2023\/03\/23\/a-look-at-the-uranium-based-ammo-the-uk-will-send-to-ukraine\/\" target=\"_blank\">U.K. decision<\/a> this past week to provide Ukraine with armor-piercing rounds containing depleted uranium.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/ukraine\/2023\/03\/23\/a-look-at-the-uranium-based-ammo-the-uk-will-send-to-ukraine\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"258\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP23081823321628.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">A look at the uranium-based ammo the UK will send to Ukraine<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Such rounds were developed by the U.S. during the Cold War to destroy Soviet tanks, including the same T-72 tanks that Ukraine now faces.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Putin argued that by deploying its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, Russia was following the lead of the United States. He noted that Washington has nuclear weapons based in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe are doing what they have been doing for decades, stationing them in certain allied countries, preparing the launch platforms and training their crews,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine\u2019s National Security and Defense Council, tweeted Sunday that Putin\u2019s announcement was \u201ca step towards internal destabilization\u201d of Belarus that maximized \u201cthe level of negative perception and public rejection\u201d of Russia and Putin in Belarusian society. The Kremlin, Danilov added, \u201ctook Belarus as a nuclear hostage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Saturday, Putin argued that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has long asked to have nuclear weapons in his country again to counter NATO. Belarus shares borders with three NATO members \u2014 Latvia, Lithuania and Poland \u2014 and Russia used Belarusian territory as a staging ground to send troops into neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"5477\" height=\"3652\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP23084634442972.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Russian Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev during their meeting in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 25, 2023.\" class=\"wp-image-106234\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP23084634442972.jpg.jpg 5477w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP23084634442972.jpg.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP23084634442972.jpg.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP23084634442972.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP23084634442972.jpg.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP23084634442972.jpg.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 5477px) 100vw, 5477px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Russian Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev during their meeting in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 25, 2023. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both Lukashenko\u2019s support of the war and Putin\u2019s plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus has been denounced by the Belarusian opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tactical nuclear weapons are intended for use on the battlefield and have a short range and a low yield compared with much more powerful nuclear warheads fitted to long-range missiles. Russia plans to maintain control over the ones it sends to Belarus, and construction of storage facilities for them will be completed by July 1, Putin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Russia has stored its tactical nuclear weapons at dedicated depots on its territory, and moving part of the arsenal to a storage facility in Belarus would up the ante in the Ukrainian conflict by placing them closer to Russian aircraft and missiles already stationed there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. said it would \u201cmonitor the implications\u201d of Putin\u2019s announcement. So far, Washington hasn\u2019t seen \u201cany indications Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon,\u201d National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Germany, the foreign ministry called it a \u201cfurther attempt at nuclear intimidation,\u201d German news agency dpa reported late Saturday. The ministry went on to say that \u201cthe comparison drawn by President Putin to NATO\u2019s nuclear participation is misleading and cannot be used to justify the step announced by Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Kirsten Grieshaber contributed to this report from Berlin.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":106223,"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":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,8,23,89,12,26],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3070],"class_list":["post-72579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"7NMGBVZUO5DM3KKOIJHJBQX7KA","arc_canonical_url":"\/flashpoints\/ukraine\/2023\/03\/26\/putin-taking-belarus-as-nuclear-hostage-ukraine-official-says\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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