Putin Confirms Russia Sent Nuclear Weapons to Belarus

A rocket launches from a missile system as part of a ground-based intercontinental ballistic missile test at the Plesetsk facility in northwestern Russia on Dec. 9, 2020. Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed that Moscow has moved nuclear warheads to Belarus amid international condemnation of nuclear usage in the ongoing war against Ukraine.

“As you know, we were negotiating with our ally, Belarusian President [Alexander] Lukashenko, that we would move a part of these tactical nuclear weapons to the territory of Belarus—this has happened,” Putin said on June 16 while speaking at a Russian economic forum in St. Petersburg, Russia. “The first nuclear warheads were delivered to the territory of Belarus. But only the first ones, the first part. But we will do this job completely by the end of the summer or by the end of the year.”