Belarusian military staff has been trained in the use of Iskander Russian nuclear weapons, the Russian Defence Ministry has said.
The Ministry said in a statement: “At one of the training grounds of the Southern Military District, since April 3, the crews of a separate missile division equipped with the Iskander-M operational-tactical missile system of the Armed Forces of Belarus have been trained.”
The statement added that the Belarusian military “showed excellent results” and “confirmed a high level of readiness to perform tasks as intended”.
Earlier this month, Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko discussed plans to deploy Russia’s nuclear weapons to Belarus.
Belarus had warned it is preparing its military for the use of nuclear weapons as its “next step” against Western anti-Russia rhetoric.
Asked about the issue of deploying Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, Belarusian Defence Minister Viktor Khrenin said President Alexander Lukashenko had clearly answered this question as he met with Vladimir Putin earlier this month, emphasising that “we are the masters of our land”.
He said: “We have prepared equipment – these are aircraft that can carry nuclear weapons. We have trained pilots.
“We received the state-of-the-art Iskander complex, which can use missiles with nuclear warheads.
“There is a stir here, but everyone didn’t hear one more thing that our president said: it’s necessary – we will also have strategic nuclear weapons.
He added the country is “preparing the sites we have” and “if such aggressive rhetoric continues, this will be the next step”.
He continued: “On the threat of force only by force. In a different way, unfortunately now in the West they don’t understand.”
Putin and Lukashenko discussed expanding economic cooperation and bolstering defence ties between their nations.
The Kremlin talks involved senior officials from both countries and followed Putin’s one-on-one meeting with Lukashenko.
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Putin said there would be “close work” on boosting cooperation under a union agreement that envisions close political, economic and military ties between Belarus and Russia.
Russia used Belarusian territory as a staging ground for invading neighbouring Ukraine and has maintained a contingent of troops and weapons there.
Last month, Putin declared that Moscow planned to put some of its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, an announcement that marked another attempt by the Russian leader to dangle the nuclear threat to discourage the West from supporting Ukraine.
Such weapons are intended to destroy enemy troops on the battlefield and have a relatively short range and a much lower yield compared with nuclear warheads fitted to long-range strategic missiles, which are capable of obliterating whole cities.