One of the senior United States Defence officials have described the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin’s ‘cavalier’ language which has been tailored around the nuclear-capable missile systems pledged to Belarus as a very irresponsible move.
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“Our strategic forces are always monitoring things in that regard,” said the official in a background call with reporters, CNN reports.
“We are certainly taking that seriously and have taken that threat seriously from the very beginning.
“Certainly any time anybody uses the word nuclear, you have concerns. Quite honestly it seems pretty irresponsible of a national leader to talk about the employment of nuclear weapons and to do so in a generally cavalier fashion.
“In terms of my concerns, other than the fact that they talk about, again, I mean the way that that statement read from Putin was, hey we’re going to give them Iskanders, and oh by the way they can hold nuclear weapons.
“And everybody takes that very seriously when you use that language. So we are certainly taking that seriously and have taken that threat seriously from the very beginning.
“And as you know our strategic forces are always monitoring things in that regard.”
Vladimir Putin who is the Russian President had on Saturday told Belarusian President, Alexander Lukashenko that the Russian Nation will be transferring its nuclear-capable Iskander-M missile systems to Belarus over the coming months.
Russia had on Sunday morning promised to deliver nuclear-capable Iskander-M missiles to its ally Belarus as it looks to intensify efforts on the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Russia’s 24 February invasion of Ukraine included Russian armoured columns sent in from Belarus.
Iskander missiles have been deployed previously in Kaliningrad, a small Russian Baltic territory between NATO members, Lithuania and Poland. They have a range of up to 500km (300 miles).
Russian President Vladimir Putin made the promise when he met his Belarusian ally Alexander Lukashenko in St Petersburg on Saturday.
Putin told President Lukashenko “in the next few months we’ll give Belarus tactical Iskander-M missile complexes, which can fire ballistic and cruise missiles, both conventional and nuclear types”, Russian RBC news reports.
The Belarusian President also asked Russia to make his country’s warplanes nuclear-capable, and the Russian leader further promised that Belarusian Su-25 fighter jets would be upgraded.