{"id":11466,"date":"2022-08-29T16:05:14","date_gmt":"2022-08-29T13:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/longreads\/lukasenkas-nuclear-threats-may-be-just-hot-air\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","slug":"lukasenkas-nuclear-threats-may-be-just-hot-air","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11466\/","title":{"rendered":"\u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s nuclear threats may be just hot air"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Alaksandr K\u0142asko\u016dski, BPN<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t * Reproduction prohibited\n<\/p>\n

\n Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161enka boasted last week of having Belarusian warplanes re-equipped for carrying nuclear weapons. Moscow can hardly trust the Belarusian ruler to supply him with Iskander missiles and nuclear bombs.<\/b>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t During a visit to a mechanical plant in Minsk on August 26, Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161enka once again threatened the West with nuclear weapons.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Commenting on NATO\u2019s Operation Atlantic Resolve launched in 2014 in response to the annexation of Crimea by Russia, he said in an apparent reference to NATO that \u201cno helicopters or planes will save them if they escalate.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\t The military command of Belarus has identified targets, \u201cdecision-making centers\u201d that \u201cwill be hit in the event of provocation,\u201d the Belarusian strongman added.\n<\/p>\n

Sukhoi 24 out of service<\/h2>\n

\n\t State-controlled media, including BelTA, initially reported that Russia would equip the Sukhoi 24 Su-24 Fencer to carry nuclear bombs, but later edited the story, removing the type of plane considered for the upgrade.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Belarus pulled about 30 old Su-24 M bombers and Su-24MR reconnaissance planes out of service in 2012. Juryj \u017dadobin, Belarus\u2019 defense minister at the time, said the Soviet planes were nearing the end of their lifespan.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Andrej Alesin, a Belarusian defense analyst, noted that both Russia and Ukraine were still operating the Su-24, and Russia had used it extensively in Syria. Some reports suggested that Russia is set to operate the aircraft for at least five more years, he told The Viewer.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Belarus still keeps some of its Su-24 bombers at an aircraft repair facility in Baranavi\u010dy, Brest region, he said.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t However, Belarus had removed equipment for dropping tactical nuclear bombs when it gave up nuclear weapons in the 1990s.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t That equipment might have been mounted back, Alesin said. He noted that the upgrade might have been carried out even before \u0141uka\u0161enka and Putin made the public statement.\n<\/p>\n

Mirror response<\/h2>\n

\n\t \u0141uka\u0161enka on June 25 asked Vladimir Putin to equip Belarus\u2019 warplanes for \u201ca mirror response\u201d to alleged NATO exercises near Belarus involving planes carrying nuclear bombs.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \u201cHelp us repurpose the aircraft we have (the Su-35, as I see it), which can carry nuclear bombs. I am not saying that you will bring nuclear ammunition there tomorrow, but we should not be joking. We remember year [19] 41, when they lulled us into a false sense of security, saying that everything would be fine and peaceful and no one would attack us, and then we were not ready for it,\u201d he said in a reference to Nazi Germany\u2019s assault on the Soviet Union.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \u201cWe should be ready for everything, even the use of the most serious weapons to defend our Fatherland from Brest to Vladivostok,\u201d he added.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Putin said that six European nations stored a total of 200 tactical nuclear munitions, \u201cmainly atomic bombs\u201d that belong to the United States. He said that NATO allies have \u201cprepared 257 aircraft, not only American ones\u201d to deliver the payload, if necessary.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \u201cWe can do it but we and you should not, probably, go for a mirror response, there is no need for it,\u201d the Russian president said. \u201cBut I absolutely agree with you that we simply must take care of our ultimate security, security of the Union State, and maybe, of other CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization) member states.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\t He said that Russia could upgrade Sukhoi Su-25 ground attack aircraft in service with the Belarusian Armed Forces and train pilots. Putin also promised to transfer Iskander-M mobile short-range ballistic and cruise missile systems to Belarus within the next few months.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Both leaders did not seem to be quite familiar with the topic. Belarus does not have any Su-35 fighter jets, while the Su-25 is an old Soviet subsonic ground attack aircraft designed to provide support for land forces. According to Alesin, it has never been used as a vehicle to deliver nuclear strikes.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Putin and \u0141uka\u0161enka might be just putting on airs to scare NATO.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t The Russian leader might be just encouraging \u0141uka\u0161enka to escalate his anti-NATO rhetoric to make sure that Belarus\u2019 relations with the West will never recover, said Andrej Parotnika\u016d, of Belarus Security Blog.\n<\/p>\n

Question marks hanging over Iskander missiles<\/h2>\n

\n\t The Iskander-M surface-to-surface missiles can also be used to deliver nuclear strikes. It has a range of 500 kilometers and is subject to an international export ban.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t  Russia can legally sell Belarus only Iskander-E missiles with a range of up to 280 kilometers.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Maybe Putin no longer considers Belarus to be foreign territory.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Alesin said it would be easy for Moscow to bypass the ban by equipping a joint training center in Belarus with Iskander-M missile systems, which would be formally owned by Russia. \u0141uka\u0161enka had made a proposal to that effect in February.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t A few years ago, Russia deployed Iskander-M systems to the Kaliningrad exclave.\n<\/p>\n

\u0141uka\u0161enka eager to have nuclear weapons<\/h2>\n

\n\t The Belarusian strongman has repeatedly expressed regret that his country gave up nuclear weapons. \u201cIf we had these weapons now, they would be talking to us like that now,\u201d he said in 2010.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Russia has already transferred or is preparing to transfer its nuclear weapons to \u0141uka\u0161enka’s regime, Pavie\u0142 \u0141atu\u0161ka, a member of the opposition’s transition cabinet, told Ukraine’s Apostrof TV.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t The opposition politician warned that \u0141uka\u0161enka may use the weapons of mass destruction as “a tool to hold on to power,” while “blackmailing the rest of the world.”\n<\/p>\n

\n\t However, Putin should realize that the Belarusian ruler can use any nuclear weapons in his disposal to provoke a major clash with the West at a time when Moscow does not need it. He can threaten Moscow too.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Alesin noted that Moscow may set up a storage facility for nuclear weapons in Belarus. The United States keeps its nuclear missiles at airbases in Europe, so that allies can use the arsenal in an emergency.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Parotnika\u016d pointed out that Moscow has not yet commented \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s claim that Belarusian aircraft have been upgraded.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t In the event of a nuclear conflict, the Kremlin can launch its missiles from anywhere, including from Belarus. It does not ask \u0141uka\u0161enka for permission to attack Ukraine from Belarusian territory.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Russian nuclear-capable long-range bombers fired missiles at Ukraine from Belarus on June 25 and August 28.\n<\/p>\n

* * *<\/h2>\n

\n\t In principle, it is possible that Russia has upgraded several Belarusian Su-25 planes to carry nuclear weapons. On the other hand, \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s threats may be nothing but hot air.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t The Kremlin may be seeking to scare NATO, and ruin relations between Minsk and the West.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alaksandr K\u0142asko\u016dski, BPN * Reproduction prohibited Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161enka boasted last week of having Belarusian warplanes re-equipped for carrying nuclear weapons. Moscow can hardly trust the Belarusian ruler to supply him with Iskander missiles and nuclear bombs. During a visit to a mechanical plant in Minsk on August 26, Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161enka once again threatened the West […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[14,22],"class_list":["post-11466","longreads","type-longreads","status-publish","hentry","rubric-politics","rubric-theviewer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s nuclear threats may be just hot air | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Alaksandr K\u0142asko\u016dski, BPN * Reproduction prohibited Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161enka boasted last week of having Belarusian warplanes re-equipped for carrying nuclear\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11466\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" 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