Belarus is hosting 'several dozen' Russian nuclear weapons, Lukashenko says, as he warns of 'apocalypse'
26 April 2024, 12:57 | Updated: 26 April 2024, 12:59
Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko has claimed that his country is now hosting "several dozen" Russian nuclear weapons.
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The Putin ally, sometimes labelled Europe's last dictator, said that his country also has combat battalions standing ready to attack Western troops.
Belarus borders Ukraine to the south and Poland, a NATO member, on its west side. Fellow NATO countries Latvia and Lithuania are to the north. Russia is to the east.
In comments reported by Russian news agency TASS, he added: "Nuclear deterrence - those who will push us towards it should know about it and have a rational look at the straightforward consequences of their ill-considered decisions, to put it mildly."
Lukashenko said that Western countries were stoking the conflict, which meant that the move to bring nuclear weapons into Belarus was justified.
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"Washington is doing everything to drag our country into the conflict, to launch a mechanism to involve other states into it; in other words, to weaken both western Europe and eastern Europe."
Speaking at a meeting of the seventh Belarusian People’s Congress, Lukashenko said: "We’ve transferred a couple of battalions and are standing head to head with Nato.
"These battalions are at full operational readiness, with a readiness of three hours from leaving their place of deployment.
"Three hours and we’re there," he said, although he also cautioned that Belarus did not want war with Poland. He also claimed Ukraine had 120,000 troops stationed on its border with Belarus.
James O'Brien: "If he is right, why on earth have we not given Ukraine everything they need to repel him more effectively?"
Lukashenko said the US had converted Ukraine into a "drug addict", addressing the tens of billions of dollars in military aid that American politicians agreed to send to Ukraine this week.
He said Kyiv was being "kept on a short leash with promises of a new dose of additional weapons, including long-range weapons and financial infusions added".
The Belarus dictator said that adding Sweden and Finland - which has a border with Russia - to NATO amounted to raising tensions with the Kremlin.
And he warned that "any incautious word or movement could cause an open armed conflict, right up to the use of nuclear weapons".
This would lead to the end of the world, Lukashenko said.
He said: "If the situation becomes threatening for the internal situation in Russia, Russia will use the entire arsenal which it has. And that will be apocalypse."
Lukashenko is known for his aggressive speeches and some onlookers have interpreted his tone as a response to the US' decision to give Ukraine more weapons.
But he also called for an end to the war, and said Ukrainian soldiers are "already fed up" with the conflict.
Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he will not negotiate with the Kremlin, whose officials he has labelled "terrorists".
