Russia’s threats to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus should be taken seriously and everything should be done to prevent their use, Asta Skaisgirytė, an advisor to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said on Tuesday.
Her comments came in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin announcing his plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
“I would suggest taking seriously talks that Russian nuclear weapons could be deployed in Belarus,” Skaisgirytė told the Žinių Radijas radio on Tuesday.
“Yes, it would be an escalatory step, and yes, it would not increase our security. On the contrary, it would decrease the security of the whole region,” she added.
Lithuania and other countries are equally concerned about the deployment of conventional weapons, such as Iskander missiles, in Belarus or Kaliningrad, she said.
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Asked whether she saw the possibility of nuclear weapons being used as realistic, Skaisgirytė said this could not be ruled out either.
“Such a weapon was already used in the Second World War, and, in theory, it cannot be ruled out that it could be used again. Again, with that in mind, everything must be done to ensure that it is not used,” she said.
On Sunday, Russian Ambassador to Belarus Boris Gryzlov said tactical nuclear weapons would be deployed in Belarus close to the country’s borders with its NATO neighbours.
Putin said earlier storage facilities for tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus would be completed by July 1. Russia has also started upgrading Belarusian warplanes to carry nuclear weapons, he said.
Authoritarian Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday he was ready to receive Russian tactical nuclear weapons in his country.
Belarus shares a 1,250-kilometre border with NATO members Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.
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