New Belarusian military doctrine provides for use of nuclear weapons

On Tuesday 16 January, Viktor Khrenin, Belarusian Defence Minister, said that the country will put forward a new military doctrine that for the first time involves the use of nuclear weapons.

Source: European Pravda, as reported by AP 

Quote: "We clearly explain Belarus’ views on the use of tactical nuclear weapons stationed on our territory," Khrenin said at a meeting of the Security Council of Belarus.

"A new chapter has appeared, where we clearly define our allied obligations to our allies," he added.

Details: The All-Belarusian People's Assembly, a representative body that functions in parallel with the Belarusian parliament, will be the body to approve the doctrine.

How the new doctrine relates to Russian weaponry is still unclear.

Belarusian Security Council Secretary Alexander Volfovich said that the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus is designed to deter aggression from Poland, a NATO member.

"Unfortunately, statements by our neighbours, in particular Poland ... forced us to strengthen [the military doctrine]", he said.

On 25 May, the defence ministers of Russia and Belarus signed documents on the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory. Later in June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the first Russian tactical nuclear warheads were already in Belarus, and the final transfer would be completed by the end of the year.

In late June, Lukashenko ordered to work out an "application algorithm" of the nuclear weapons that Russia stores in Belarus.

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