Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stands while listening to the Ukrainian national anthem as he arrives at the European Parliament on February 9, 2023 in Brussels, Belgium.
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NATO condemned Russia’s “dangerous and irresponsible” nuclear rhetoric on Sunday after President Putin shared plans for the placement of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
Putin announced the deal in a Russian television interview on Saturday and he said it would not violate nuclear non-proliferation agreements. He said the announcement was “nothing out of the ordinary” and that the US had done something similar by stationing weapons in Europe, which a NATO spokesman called “completely misleading”. “.
“NATO allies act with full respect for their international commitments,” the spokesperson told NBC News. “Russia has repeatedly broken its arms control commitments, most recently suspending participation in the New START Treaty.”
The New START Treaty sets limits on the number of strategic warheads that the United States and Russia can deploy. Putin announced in February that Russia would suspend its participation in the treaty.
The NATO spokesman added that there was no change in Russia’s nuclear posture that would prompt NATO to adjust itself.
Following Putin’s announcement on Saturday, Ukraine called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council. Ukraine’s foreign ministry said on Sunday that it expected “effective actions” to address Russia’s threats of nuclear aggression.
“Russia once again affirms its chronic inability to manage nuclear weapons responsibly as a deterrent and deterrent to war, not as an instrument of intimidation and deterrence. threats,” the ministry said in a statement. “The world must unite against those who threaten the future of human civilization.”
In an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation” Sunday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said there is no indication that Putin has followed through with the agreement with Belarus or transfer any nuclear weapons. He added that Mr Putin is not suggesting any intention to use nuclear weapons, “stop”, but the US is continuing to monitor the situation closely.
Government officials around the world took to Twitter to condemn Putin’s announcement on Sunday. A Ukrainian national security official said in a tweet that Russia has taken Belarus as a “nuclear hostage” and that placing tactical nuclear weapons there would cause domestic turmoil.
“Putin’s statement about the placement of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus – a step towards the country’s internal instability – maximizes the level of negative perception and public rejection of Russia and Putin in Belarusian society,” Oleksiy Danilov wrote early Sunday morning.
The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, wrote that the EU was “ready” to enact further sanctions against Russia. He called the Russian announcement an “irresponsible escalation” and a threat to European security.
Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyysaid Putin was “too predictable” in a tweet on Sunday.
“Making a statement about tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, he admitted that he was afraid of losing and all he could do was scare with tactics,” he wrote.
