Friday

29th Mar 2024

EU will 'react as appropriate' to Russian nukes in Belarus

  • Russia is said to have some 2,000 tactical nuclear weapons (Photo: jenspie3)
Listen to article

The EU has condemned plans by Belarus to host Russian nukes, following an agreement signed between Minsk and Moscow.

"This is not a step towards deescalation, this is not a step towards decreasing the tension," Peter Stano, spokesperson for the EU's foreign policy branch, told reporters on Thursday (25 May).

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Stano said the move only further increases tensions and points to the Belarus collaboration with Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"The European Union will of course be following very closely how this is implemented and we will be reacting as appropriate," he said.

Similar statements were made last March by the EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, after Russia and Belarus had announced the plans.

Borrell, in a tweet at the time, threatened to impose further EU sanctions.

The two sides had signed an agreement on Thursday to formalise the plan to place Russian tactical nuclear missiles on Belarusian territory.

TASS news agency quoted Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu as saying the deployment was necessary "in the context of an extremely sharp escalation of threats on the western borders of Russia and Belarus."

Shoigu said that Moscow will retain control over the nukes and any decisions on their use.

In April, Shoigu also reportedly said that Russia had delivered to Belarus attack aircraft and Iskander-M systems capable of delivering tactical nuclear strikes.

Belarus shares borders with EU member states Lithuania, Latvia and Poland.

All are also members of Nato, the intergovernmental military alliance set up post-WWII to deter Soviet expansion into Europe.

Russia's president Vladimir Putin, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes, has in the past brandished the threat of nuclear war.

The country has an estimated 2,000 tactical nuclear weapons.

Opinion

Putin and the threat of a tactical nuclear attack

Nato could be in a position to experience nuclear deterrence in an entirely unexpected form, requiring skilled diplomacy and even a willingness for some compromise, however bitter, to avoid disaster.

Opinion

True scale of horror in today's Belarus hard to comprehend

As the elected leader of Belarus and wife of a political prisoner, forced into exile, we have to rely on the solidarity of the international community to apply meaningful pressure for change in Belarus.

Column

How EU can push China to live up to its 2013 guarantees to Ukraine

Brussels can also go further and warn Moscow that any nuclear incident — for example, at facilities such as Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, under Russian control since March 2022 — will also be considered a nuclear attack.

Opinion

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us