US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday the military had not changed its nuclear posture in response to President Vladimir Putin’s statement that Russia had placed nuclear arms in Belarus.
“We have no reason to adjust our own nuclear posture. We don’t see any indications that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon,” Blinken said.
Blinken called it “ironic” that Putin is putting Russian nuclear arms in Belarus when Putin justified his invasion of Ukraine as an action to prevent Kyiv from obtaining such weapons.
He also criticized Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko for accepting the weapons from Moscow.
“This is just another example of Lukashenko making irresponsible, provocative choices to cede control of Belarus’s sovereignty against the will of the Belarussian people,” he said.
