File picture of the Russian army’s Iskander missile launchers take positions during drills in Russia. Russia will move its tactical nuclear weapons close to the western borders of Belarus
| Photo Credit: AP
Russia will move its tactical nuclear weapons close to the western borders of Belarus, the Russian envoy to Minsk said on Sunday, placing them at NATO’s threshold in a move likely to further escalate Moscow’s standoff with the West.
In one of the Russia’s most pronounced nuclear signals since the beginning of its invasion of Ukraine 13 months ago, President Vladimir Putin said on March 26 that Russia will station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
The two Slav neighbours are formally part of a “union state” and have been in talks for years to integrate further, a process that has accelerated after Minsk allowed Moscow to use Belarusian territory to send troops into Ukraine last year.
The weapons “will be moved to the western border of our union state and will increase the…