GOOD NEWS
Belarus Weekly: No nukes in Belarus, yet


Maria Yeryoma
Fri, June 23, 2023 

Russian President Vladimir Putin claims that the first of Russia's tactical nukes destined for Belarus have arrived. Ukraine denies Putin's claim, saying Russia has yet to deliver a "single nuclear warhead" to Belarus.

PACE urges "practical support" for exiled Belarusians, calling on its members to make legal entry, stay, and travel in the EU easier for Belarusian exiles and their families.

On a similar note, the International Labour Organization urges its members to reconsider their relations with Lukashenko's regime amid human rights concerns.

Following the introductions of trials in absentia, Belarus is seeking to persecute the dead.

A draft bill that would allow the prosecution of deceased people for crimes against humanity is registered in parliament.

A Belarusian singer could face up to four years in prison for having rejected a personal scholarship awarded by Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko in 2020.

Ukraine denies Putin's claims that tactical nukes have arrived in Belarus

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed on June 16 that the first of Russia's tactical nuclear weapons destined for Belarus have arrived. However, Ukraine has denied the claim.

"The first nuclear charges were delivered to Belarus," Putin said at the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia. "But only the first ones, the first part. By the end of the summer, by the end of the year, we will complete this work."

Putin continued: "It is precisely an element of deterrence so that all those who are thinking about inflicting a strategic defeat on us are not oblivious to this circumstance."

On June 9, Putin told Lukashenko that the non-strategic nuclear weapons, promised in a bilateral agreement on May 25, would arrive at the beginning of July once the necessary storage facilities are ready. Lukashenko claimed on June 13 that Russian tactical nuclear weapons will arrive within "days."

However, Ukraine's Military Intelligence Head Kyrylo Budanov said on June 20 that Russia hasn't yet delivered a "single nuclear warhead" to Belarus. According to Budanov, the preparation for a "possible transfer" is ongoing, and storage facilities in Belarus are being equipped.

Russia won't tell US number of nuclear warheads in Belarus

 Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov


Reuters
Fri, June 23, 2023 

(Reuters) - Russia will not inform the U.S. about the number of nuclear warheads it is stationing in Belarus or tests of its nuclear-capable Poseidon torpedo, the Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Friday.

Moscow and Minsk say Belarus has already begun receiving the Russian tactical, or short-range, nuclear weapons that President Vladimir Putin had publicly promised to station there, as tensions with the West soar over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"I deeply doubt that this topic will become the subject of any public discussion or disclosure on our part," Ryabkov was quoted as telling reporters in the southern town of Sochi.

"For decades the United States has kept its tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of a number of European countries, and it never gives exact numbers."

Short-range weapons do not fall under the terms of the New Start treaty, the last remaining U.S.-Russia arms control treaty, which caps the countries' strategic nuclear arsenals. Putin has suspended Russia's participation in it, although both sides have pledged to continue to respect its limits.

There is also no treaty or verification mechanism covering nuclear-capable and nuclear-powered autonomous torpedoes such as Poseidon, and Ryabkov said Russia therefore had no plans to inform the United States about tests of the system.

U.S. and Russian officials have both described Poseidon as a new category of retaliatory weapon, something of a cross between a torpedo and an underwater drone, capable of triggering radioactive ocean swells to attack naval battle groups or render coastal cities uninhabitable.

The state news agency TASS reported in January, citing an unidentified defence source, that Russia had produced the first set of Poseidon torpedoes for deployment on the Belgorod nuclear-powered submarine.

In April, TASS said Russia planned to form a division of special-purpose submarines that will carry Poseidon torpedoes as part of its Pacific Fleet by the end of 2024 or first half of 2025.

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Kevin Liffey and Alison Williams)