In yet another big development in the ongoing Ukraine war, Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed that Moscow has already stationed a first batch of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, reported BBC. Putin made the remark while speaking at a forum adding that it will only be used if Russia’s territory or state was threatened, the report said. Meanwhile, the US government said there was no indication of Russia planning to use nuclear weapons to attack Ukraine.
"We don't see any indications that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after Putin's comments, as quoted by BBC.
Notably, Belarus has been a key Russian ally and served as a launchpad for Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year.
Speaking on the transfer of weapons, Putin said that it would be completed by the end of the summer.
Responding to questions post his speech at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, the Russian president said the move was about "containment" and to remind anyone "thinking of inflicting a strategic defeat on us".
When asked about the possibility of using those weapons, he replied: "Why should we threaten the whole world? I have already said that the use of extreme measures is possible in case there is a danger to Russian statehood," as quoted by BBC.
Tactical nuclear weapons are designed to destroy enemy targets in a specific area without causing widespread radioactive fallout. They are small nuclear warheads.
BBC mentioned that the smallest tactical nuclear weapons can be one kiloton or less (producing the equivalent to a thousand tonnes of the explosive TNT). The largest ones can be as big as 100 kilotons. By comparison, the atomic bomb the US dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 was 15 kilotons.
President Putin is due to meet African leaders in St Petersburg after they visited Kyiv on Friday as part of a peace initiative they are presenting to both countries.