NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said Tuesday that they have not seen Russia deploy tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus yet, despite claims from Moscow that they intended to do so, APA reports citing CNN.
NATO has not yet seen "any changes in Russia’s nuclear posture that demands any changes in our nuclear posture," Stoltenberg said via video to the NATO Conference on Arms Control, Disarmament and Weapons of Mass Destruction Non-Proliferation in Washington, DC.
Stoltenberg said that Moscow’s threatened deployment "is part of a pattern we have seen actually [for] many years — but especially since the invasion of Ukraine — of dangerous, irresponsible nuclear rhetoric."
NATO is monitoring the situation closely, Stoltenberg said.
Sherman echoed Stoltenberg’s comments. She said that Russia has yet to move weapons to Belarus but called the threat "a dangerous escalation, no doubt about it."
"We have all watched and worried that [Russian President] Vladimir Putin would use what he considers a non-strategic tactical nuclear weapon or would do some demonstration effect to escalate but in a managed risk escalation. All of us have been very watchful of this, and it is very critical to remain watchful of this," Sherman said. "I think his announcement of sending nuclear weapons to Belarus is his effort to use this threat in a managed way."
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