Ready or Not, World: Nuclear Drills
Ready or Not, World: Nuclear Drills
"We will deploy not only nuclear weapons but also the newest super-nuclear weapons in order to defend our territory if necessary, in case our adversaries and rivals take reckless and foolish steps.""We have agreed that we're going to keep some of the ammunition [used in the war games between Belarus and Russia] if we need it so that we don't move it back and forth."Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko"We’ve seen some of those troops inch closer to that border [questioning Russian troop pullout claims]. We even see them stocking up their blood supplies.""You don’t do these sort of things for no reason, and you certainly don’t do them if you’re getting ready to pack up and go home."US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin
In this photo released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on April 13, 2021, Russian nuclear submarines Prince Vladimir, above, and Yekaterinburg are harbored at a Russian naval base in Gazhiyevo, Kola Peninsula, Russia. (Vadim Savitsky/Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP) |
It
is startling news, enough so to make blood run cold, but it is not new
news. Months back at the end of 2021, an announcement had come through
that Russia and Belarus were planning to mount war games inclusive of
Russia's nuclear forces. And although this is a pre-existing agenda,
re-announcing it at this precise time when tensions are already sky-high
reflecting the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, makes it all
the more chilling.
It
is a not-very-original message to the West that just in case it had
slipped their minds, Russia has a sizeable arsenal of nuclear weaponry
and the means by which they can be delivered, by sea or land or by air.
Comes now a sweeping exercise of Russia's latest advances in nuclear
'defences'. For after all, Vladimir Putin has stated frequently of late
that his country's tender position of insecurity is not only troubling
to him but it requires changes or otherwise ... left unsaid.
Not that he would unleash a nuclear device, just reminding everyone.
In this photo taken from a footage distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Sept. 26, 2020, Russian rockets launch from missile systems during the main stage of the Kavkaz-2020 strategic command-and-staff exercises at the Kapustin Yar training ground, Russia. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP) |
President
Lukashenko is in essence reminding those who regard him as an outright
dictator -- whose sham re-election brought Belorusians out on the
streets in protest post-corrupt-2020 election, expressing their anger at
being once again manipulated by a government they detest -- that he has
the trust of Putin. The protesters were so vehemently adamant that
their president step away from his throne that Belarusian police and
military found themselves despite violent reactions, unable to disperse
the crowds. Of necessity calling in Russian troops to handle Mr.
Lukashenko's rejection by his people.
Indebted
to Russia, and with no especial fondness for Ukraine, he is more than
willing as a staunch ally to do his part in presenting a common front
against ill-will from the West and he is practically salivating at the
prospect of acquiring for his own military, arms of the calibre that
Russia has now in its updated military arsenal. Having nuclear bases
re-established in Belarus 'just in case' is the icing on his cake of
expectations.
He
is dreaming of gracefully accepting 'gifts' from Moscow of
surface-to-air missiles systems, but if need be is prepared to buy them
from Russia. Beaming with self-satisfaction, he made an in-person
inspection of the Russian-Belarusian drills. The nuclear arsenal that
Belarus once hosted as a Soviet satrapy went back to Russia in the
1990s. Belarus has a vote coming up on constitutional changes to permit
the weapons to be restored.
That
Moscow is prohibited by international treaties from transferring its
nuclear arsenal to another country may or may not influence Vladimir
Putin. The nuclear drills programmed for Saturday will cap off the
games, closing on Sunday. "I
saw some high-tech weaponry that we really need, including Iskander-M
[short-range ballistic systems]. We're going to buy it or receive it as a
gift from other elder brothers", said Lukashenko.
Belarus, he offered, could host Russia's newest S-400 missile defence systems, which could handily be deployed "somewhere near Minsk so that we can see what's going on in Kyiv, in Warsaw and beyond." Kremlin
spokesman Dmitry Peskov in response to a question relating to
Lukashenko's earlier statements on retaining Russian troops in Belarus,
said: "It is not under discussion so far".
Once
again, Russia's defence minister stated definitively the intention that
all Russian troops are to leave Belarus once the drills are over.
Lukashenko in effect contradicting that by describing the situation as
fluid, that this is a matter he and Mr. Putin would discuss. "They
will stay at long as necessary. Maybe [the withdrawal] will happen
tomorrow. If we decide it will happen in a month - they will stay for a
month."
Ukrainian servicemen survey the impact areas from shells that landed close to their positions during the night on a front line outside Popasna, Luhansk region, eastern Ukraine, on February 14, 2022. (AP/Vadim Ghirda) |
Labels: Belarus, Russia, Threatened, Ukraine, War Games
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