By Thalif Deen<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UNITED NATIONS, 4 April 2023 (IDN) \u2014 As Russian nuclear threats keep escalating following the invasion of Ukraine 14 months ago, President Vladimir Putin issued a new warning on March 26: that he plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, a close political, economic and military ally of Moscow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe United States has been doing this for decades,\u201d Putin asserted, insisting that his plans were no different from the American practice of positioning nuclear weapons in allied countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, while endorsing the proposal, warned of a \u201cthird world war looming on the horizon with nuclear fires\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Rebecca Johnson, nuclear treaty expert and first president of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)<\/a>, told IDN this sabre-rattling by Putin and Lukashenko is dangerous and foolish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is meant to challenge NATO but only emulates NATO\u2019s provocative nuclear sharing arrangements with Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf the threats to share nuclear weapons with Belarus are actually implemented, they will increase the risks that nuclear weapons could be used in this war, whether through murderous intent, accident or miscommunication.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Given the brutal war being waged against Ukraine, if Russia puts some of its nuclear weapons into Belarus, how will Putin and Lukashenko take responsibility for what happens next? she asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPutin has already miscalculated in launching this war and underestimating Ukrainian resistance. Nuclear deterrence has already failed. He has already been indicted for war crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n What he is doing now could cause genocide, Dr Johnson declared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hans M. Kristensen, Director of the Nuclear Information Project, Federation of American Scientists, and Associate Senior Fellow at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)<\/a>, told IDN the United States had deployed nuclear weapons in a small number of European countries since the 1950s, but President Putin\u2019s statements about deploying nuclear weapons in Belarus would be a new arrangement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Until last year, the Belarusian constitution prohibited nuclear weapons in Belarus, but the constitution was changed to allow this, he pointed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even so, Russian nuclear deployment in Belarus would contradict the joint Russia-China statement from February that \u201cAll nuclear-weapon states should refrain from deploying nuclear weapons abroad\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Asked about President Putin\u2019s proposal to station nuclear weapons in Belarus, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters on March 27: \u201cWell, we\u2019ve seen those press reports, and I can tell you that obviously, we\u2019re concerned about the general state of tensions around nuclear weapons that we\u2019re seeing recently, which is very concerning. And this also serves as a reminder for every Member State to uphold its responsibility under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)\u201d.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Dujarric also said current nuclear risks are alarmingly high. \u201cAnd all actions that could lead to miscalculation or escalation with catastrophic consequences must be avoided.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n All nuclear weapons states and non-nuclear weapon states, he said, must strictly adhere to the commitments and obligations they\u2019ve assumed under the NPT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Elaborating further, Dr Johnson said military boffins like to bandy around terms like \u2018tactical nuclear weapon\u2019 as if these aren\u2019t quite so bad. Don\u2019t be deceived\u2014that\u2019s just a word for short-range, typically portable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat means more vulnerable nuclear bombs, not ones that are less dangerous. The bombs in NATO bases that are described as tactical are designed to be far bigger in explosive power than the atomic bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945,\u201d she pointed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr Johnson said: \u201cThere\u2019s no such thing as a tactical use of nuclear weapons. Once the taboo on detonating nuclear weapons is broken, nuclear war will be unleashed. That is an unbearable nightmare to think about, but that\u2019s the brink where humanity now teeters\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Any use of nuclear weapons, she said, would be strategic in purpose and put populations in terrible danger. The Red Cross has underlined over and over again that there is no humanitarian response service in the world that can handle the carnage and radiation of just one nuclear detonation on a city or \u2018battlefield\u2019, which in the Ukraine war seems to mean a cluster of town and villages resisting Putin\u2019s invasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back in the 1990s, Ukraine was right to get rid of the Soviet weapons left on its soil and join the NPT; and Russia has been right to call on NATO to stop its nuclear sharing policies and comply in good faith with the NPT and disarmament treaties. Now Putin has reversed Russian policies, and put the Russian, Ukrainian and European peoples in terrible danger, said Dr Johnson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe only way to prevent nuclear war and the use of nuclear weapons is by eliminating all nuclear arsenals. Now, before it is too late, Russia, NATO countries, and the other nuclear-armed states need to sign the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW)<\/a> and start working to prevent nuclear war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Commenting on Putin\u2019s announcement to station nuclear weapons in Belarus, UK Ambassador to the UN James Kariuki\u2019s told the UN Security Council on March 31 Russia\u2019s announcement is \u201cyet another futile attempt at intimidation and coercion\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRussia\u2019s nuclear rhetoric is irresponsible. The UK urges Belarus not to enable Russia\u2019s reckless actions. The UK is clear we will continue to support Ukraine. It is Russia who has violated the UN Charter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In January 2022, P5 leaders said that \u201ca nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought\u201d. They also said that \u201cnuclear weapons\u2014for as long as they continue to exist\u2014should serve defensive purposes, deter aggression, and prevent war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite this commitment, since the beginning of Russia\u2019s illegal invasion of Ukraine, President Putin has used irresponsible nuclear rhetoric, said the British ambassador.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLet us be clear: No other country has raised the prospect of nuclear use in this conflict. No one is threatening Russia\u2019s sovereignty. It is Russia which has violated the UN Charter by invading another sovereign country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPresident Putin\u2019s announcement on March 25 is his latest attempt to intimidate and coerce. This has not worked and will not work. We will continue to support Ukraine\u2019s efforts to defend itself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have heard President Putin\u2019s claim that the trigger for this announcement is the UK supplying depleted uranium munitions to Ukraine alongside Challenger tanks, as it defends itself in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Russia is well aware that this is conventional ammunition\u2014not nuclear munitions. This is yet another example of them deliberately trying to mislead, the British envoy said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe welcome President Xi\u2019s call for the international community to \u2018jointly oppose the use of, or threats to use, nuclear weapons,\u2019 and I listen closely to our Chinese colleague today. We also note the Chinese and Russian joint statement that nuclear weapons should not be deployed abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite these statements of intent, Russia has steadily undermined the arms control architecture underpinning our collective security. Russia\u2019s persistent violations of the INF Treaty<\/a> resulted in the Treaty\u2019s collapse in 2019. This year, Russia suspended its participation in New START<\/a>, he noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPresident Lukashenko has made no secret of his wish to see Russia base nuclear weapons in Belarus. We urge him to stop enabling Russia\u2019s reckless and escalatory actions. We will stand firm in our support to the people of Ukraine and call on Russia to de-escalate; it should start by ceasing its illegal and unprovoked invasion,\u201d the ambassador declared. [IDN-InDepthNews]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Image source: UPNORTH.EU<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, 4 April 2023 (IDN) \u2014 As Russian nuclear threats keep escalating following the invasion of Ukraine 14 months ago, President Vladimir Putin issued a new warning on March 26: that he plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, a close political, economic and military ally of Moscow. \u201cThe United […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6275,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,16,93,32],"tags":[102],"class_list":{"0":"post-6200","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-europe","8":"category-news","9":"category-politics","10":"category-regions","11":"tag-belarus"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6200"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6276,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6200\/revisions\/6276"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}