Vladimir Putin on Friday said Russia has delivered tactical nuclear warheads to neighbouring Belarus and warned his country could use similar weapons in Ukraine, though he said there was “no need” to do so more than a year into his full-scale invasion.
The transfer, if confirmed, would be the first time Russia has deployed nuclear weapons outside its borders since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia will retain control over the tactical nuclear arms, which are to be kept in refurbished Soviet-era storage facilities.
Speaking at his flagship economic conference in St Petersburg on Friday, Russia’s president said Moscow had sent an unspecified number of nuclear warheads to Belarus, adding that the supplies would be “completely finished by the end of the summer or the end of the year”.