Ready or Not, World: Nuclear Drills

"We will deploy not only nuclear weapons but also the newest super-nuclear weapons in order to defend our territory if necessary, in case our adversaries and rivals take reckless and foolish steps."

"We have agreed that we're going to keep some of the ammunition [used in the war games between Belarus and Russia] if we need it so that we don't move it back and forth."

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko

 

"We’ve seen some of those troops inch closer to that border [questioning Russian troop pullout claims]. We even see them stocking up their blood supplies."

"You don’t do these sort of things for no reason, and you certainly don’t do them if you’re getting ready to pack up and go home."

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin

In this photo released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on April 13, 2021, Russian nuclear submarines Prince Vladimir, above, and Yekaterinburg are harbored at a Russian naval base in Gazhiyevo, Kola Peninsula, Russia. (Vadim Savitsky/Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

It is startling news, enough so to make blood run cold, but it is not new news. Months back at the end of 2021, an announcement had come through that Russia and Belarus were planning to mount war games  inclusive of Russia's nuclear forces. And although this is a pre-existing agenda, re-announcing it at this precise time when tensions are already sky-high reflecting the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, makes it all the more chilling.

 

It is a not-very-original message to the West that just in case it had slipped their minds, Russia has a sizeable arsenal of nuclear weaponry and the means by which they can be delivered, by sea or land or by air. Comes now a sweeping exercise of Russia's latest advances in nuclear 'defences'. For after all, Vladimir Putin has stated frequently of late that his country's tender position of insecurity is not only troubling to him but it requires changes or otherwise ... left unsaid. 

 

Not that he would unleash a nuclear device, just reminding everyone. 

In this photo taken from a footage distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Sept. 26, 2020, Russian rockets launch from missile systems during the main stage of the Kavkaz-2020 strategic command-and-staff exercises at the Kapustin Yar training ground, Russia. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

President Lukashenko is in essence reminding those who regard him as an outright dictator -- whose sham re-election brought Belorusians out on the streets in protest post-corrupt-2020 election, expressing their anger at being once again manipulated by a government they detest -- that he has the trust of Putin. The protesters were so vehemently adamant that their president step away from his throne that Belarusian police and military found themselves despite violent reactions, unable to disperse the crowds. Of necessity calling in Russian troops to handle Mr. Lukashenko's rejection by his people.

Indebted to Russia, and with no especial fondness for Ukraine, he is more than willing as a staunch ally to do his part in presenting a common front against ill-will from the West and he is practically salivating at the prospect of acquiring for his own military, arms of the calibre that Russia has now in its updated military arsenal. Having nuclear bases re-established in Belarus 'just in case' is the icing on his cake of expectations. 

He is dreaming of gracefully accepting 'gifts' from Moscow of surface-to-air missiles systems, but if need be is prepared to buy them from Russia. Beaming with self-satisfaction, he made an in-person inspection of the Russian-Belarusian drills. The nuclear arsenal that Belarus once hosted as a Soviet satrapy went back to Russia in the 1990s. Belarus has a vote coming up on constitutional changes to permit the weapons to be restored.

That Moscow is prohibited by international treaties from transferring its nuclear arsenal to another country may or may not influence Vladimir Putin. The nuclear drills programmed for Saturday will cap off the games, closing on Sunday. "I saw some high-tech weaponry that we really need, including Iskander-M [short-range ballistic systems]. We're going to buy it or receive it as a gift from other elder brothers", said Lukashenko. 

Belarus, he offered, could host Russia's newest S-400 missile defence systems, which could handily be deployed "somewhere near Minsk so that we can see what's going on in Kyiv, in Warsaw and beyond." Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in response to a question relating to Lukashenko's earlier statements on retaining Russian troops in Belarus, said: "It is not under discussion so far".

Once again, Russia's defence minister stated definitively the intention that all Russian troops are to leave Belarus once the drills are over. Lukashenko in effect contradicting that by describing the situation as fluid, that this is a matter he and Mr. Putin would discuss. "They will stay at long as necessary. Maybe [the withdrawal] will happen tomorrow. If we decide it will happen in a month - they will stay for a month."

Ukrainian servicemen survey the impact areas from shells that landed close to their positions during the night on a front line outside Popasna, Luhansk region, eastern Ukraine, on February 14, 2022. (AP/Vadim Ghirda)