By deciding to deliver depleted uranium obus shells to Kiev, London has provoked a new escalation of tension in the conflict with Moscow. During an interview broadcast on Russian television, President Vladimir Putin announced the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of its Belarusian ally, which borders Ukraine and European Union countries.
By Jean-Didier Revoin, RFI’s Moscow correspondent
(RFI) “Ten aircraft are ready to use this type of weapon. As of April 3, we will start training teams, and on July 1, we will complete construction of a special depot for tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus,” Putin said Saturday (25).
The Kremlin leader explained that, on the one hand, Moscow was not violating its international non-proliferation commitments and, on the other, the United States had been deploying its tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of its allies for decades.
“There is nothing unprecedented here: the United States has been doing this for decades. The country has had its tactical nuclear weapons deployed for a long time on the territory of its allies,” he stated. “We decided to do the same,” he added, assuring that he had the backing of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
“Without violating our international nuclear non-proliferation agreements (…), ten aircraft are ready to use these kinds of weapons,” he said. Putin pointed out that Russia had already delivered to Belarus an Iskaner ballistic missile system capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
The remarks made by Putin follow the British intent to deliver the projectiles to Ukraine, a subject on which the Russian head of state did not miss the opportunity to speak out during the broadcast: “Russia, of course, has something to answer with. We have, without exaggeration, tens of thousands of these shells. At the moment, we don’t use them,” he warned.
Belarus borders Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, three EU and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries.
A war without a winner
The comments also come just days after a joint statement with Chinese President Xi Jinping in which the two said that “a nuclear war should not be started, because there could be no winner.”
The Russian leader had previously made veiled threats to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, reactivating Cold War fears. Putin has also threatened to order the use of depleted uranium shells in Ukraine if Ukraine receives such weapons from the West, after a UK deputy minister mentioned the possibility.
UK Deputy Defense Minister Annabel Goldi said on Monday (20) that her country planned to deliver Ukraine “depleted uranium” shells, which are “very effective in destroying modern tanks and armored vehicles.”
A day later, the British anti-nuclear organization Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament warned that their use would cause an “additional environmental and health disaster for those at the center of the conflict” in Ukraine. The use of depleted uranium munitions entails risks of a toxic nature for the military and the population of the areas where it is used.
Putin insists that Russia will respond if the delivery is made. These weapons “can be classified as the most harmful and dangerous to humans (…) and the environment,” he stressed.
Nuclear risk
Last month, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) warned that the risk of using nuclear weapons was heightened by the prolonged 13-month conflict in Ukraine.
Putin in February suspended Russia’s participation in the New START nuclear disarmament treaty it had signed with the United States and accused Western countries of “fanning” the conflict in Ukraine.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg regretted this decision, recalling that it was the last bilateral agreement between Russia and the United States on nuclear disarmament. “More nuclear weapons and less arms control make the world more dangerous,” he said.
Russia had already suspended, in August last year, inspections of its nuclear facilities by the United States, which were provided for under New Start. The director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, announced on Saturday that he will visit next week Iran’s Zaporijia (southeast) nuclear power plant which, in his opinion, is in a “precarious” situation.
This will be Grossi’s second visit to the plant, the largest in Europe, since the occupation of its facilities by Russian troops at the beginning of the conflict. The purpose of the visit is to “directly assess the gravity of the nuclear safety situation at the site,” he said.
(With information from AFP)