Nuclear weapons in Belarus – West should cave in: Russia relies on threatening gestures again – News

The stationing of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus is of little military significance – but the signal does have an effect. Russia wants the West to back down on arms supplies.

For Moscow, the campaign against Ukraine is not going as planned. After a good 400 days of war, the attack is stuck. Thanks to Western support, the Ukrainian resistance is unbroken.

A week ago, Russia announced the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. The step has little military significance, it is primarily a threat.

Not since the height of the Cold War has the risk of using nuclear weapons been as great as it is now.

The UN is extremely concerned in the Security Council: “Since the height of the Cold War, the risk of using nuclear weapons has not been as high as it is now,” warns the UN commissioner for disarmament issues, Izumi Nakamitsu, in the Security Council. The lack of dialogue and the undermining of arms control on the one hand and the dangerous rhetoric and hidden threats on the other are the main causes of this existential risk.

Rhetoric is supposed to create inhibitions in the West

Belarusian ruler Lukashenko said in his address to the nation on Friday that he would also use nuclear weapons to secure sovereignty. “The villains abroad who are trying to chase us away must understand: we will stop at nothing to protect our countries, our state and our people,” said Lukashenko.

Legend:

The Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko also finds drastic words in Minsk.

Reuters/BelTA/Maxim Guchek

At the same time, Vladimir Putin has Russia’s new foreign policy doctrine presented to him in Moscow. In it, the West is described as an existential threat that needs to be fought with all severity – and if necessary also preventively.

We will defend the right of the Russian people to existence and free development.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov clarifies that the armed forces can be used to repel or prevent an armed attack on Russia and its allies. “By doing so, we declare unequivocally that we will defend the right of the Russian people to existence and free development.”

According to SRF Russia correspondent Christof Franzen, Moscow wants to scare people in the West with the threat of nuclear weapons. Putin is concerned with “getting the European governments to supply fewer weapons – especially not those that are decisive for the war.” In retrospect, one could certainly say that the Kremlin boss had some success with it.

Neither war euphoria nor war fatigue

Franzen also states that the Russians have not yet become war-weary: “According to surveys, 70 percent of the population still support this so-called special operation. A number that seems believable to me.”

The propaganda is still omnipresent and very aggressive. “When I talk to people in Siberia, in the Caucasus, in the Urals, in Moscow, I hear everyone saying the same things that are said on state television,” explains Franzen.

People say to themselves: we have to support our boys, no matter who started the war.

The hundreds of thousands of men who were mobilized would now also uphold support for the war in Ukraine. “People say to themselves: we just have to support our boys, no matter who started the war.” However, there can be no talk of war euphoria.