Nato has slammed Russian president Vladimir Putin for his “dangerous and irresponsible” nuclear rhetoric after he planned to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
“Russia’s reference to Nato’s nuclear sharing is totally misleading. Nato allies act with full respect of their international commitments,” a Nato spokesperson told Reuters yesterday, adding that the country has “consistently broken its arms control commitments”.
The Russian move to amp up its nuclear weapons deployment in Europe will not affect Nato’s own nuclear position, the spokesperson said.
“We have not seen any changes in Russia’s nuclear posture that would lead us to adjust our own,” the Nato spokesperson wrote.
The US has also said that it sees no change in the potential for Moscow to use nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine.
Mr Putin announced yesterday that Russia will deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, adding that such a move would not violate any nuclear non-proliferation agreements.
He accused the US of long deploying its tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of their allied countries.
