The Russian embassy calls US criticism of Moscow’s tactical deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus hypocritical, saying “Washington could use some introspection before blaming others.”
Russia has dismissed US President Joe Biden’s criticism of Moscow’s deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, saying Washington has been doing the same across Europe for decades.
Russia said on Thursday it was proceeding with the first deployment of such weapons outside its borders since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said the weapons were already on the move.
Biden said on Friday he had an “extremely negative” reaction to reports that Russia was continuing its deployment to Belarus.
“It is the sovereign right of Russia and Belarus to ensure their security by means we deem necessary amid a large-scale hybrid war that Washington is unleashing against us,” the Russian embassy to the United States said in a statement.
“The measures we are taking are fully in line with our international legal obligations.”
Tactical nuclear weapons are used for tactical gain on the battlefield and are usually smaller in yield than the strategic nuclear weapons designed to destroy US, European or Russian cities.
The Russian embassy called the US criticism of Moscow’s deployment hypocritical, saying “Washington could use some introspection before blaming others”.
“The United States has maintained a large arsenal of nuclear weapons in Europe for decades. Together with its NATO allies, it participates in nuclear weapons-sharing arrangements and trains for scenarios of the use of nuclear weapons against our country.”
Cold War redux
The United States has said the world faces its greatest nuclear danger since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis over comments made by President Vladimir Putin during the Ukraine conflict, but Moscow says its position has been misinterpreted.
Putin, who has portrayed the war in Ukraine as a struggle for Russia’s survival against an aggressive West, has repeatedly warned that Russia, which has more nuclear weapons than any other country, will use any means to defend itself.
The United States has deployed nuclear weapons in Western Europe since US President Dwight D Eisenhower authorized their Cold War deployment to counter the perceived threat of the Soviet Union. The first US nuclear weapons in Europe were deployed in Britain in 1954.
Many of the details about the current US deployment are classified, although the Federation of American Scientists says the US has deployed 100 B61 tactical nuclear weapons in Europe – in Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belgium and the Netherlands.