NATO took up the cudgels against Russian President Vladimir Putin after his report yesterday that Russia would be placing nuclear weapons in Belarus under arrangements very similar to those by which European countries host U.S. nuclear weapons. “Russia’s reference to NATO’s nuclear sharing is totally misleading. NATO allies act with full respect of their international commitments,” NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu said in emailed comments to Reuters on March 26. “Russia has consistently broken its arms control commitments,” Lungescu said.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, after Putin’s announcement, called for an extraordinary meeting of the UN Security Council, and demanded the international community “take decisive measures” to prevent Russia’s use of nuclear weapons. (Recall that one of the final straws leading to Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine was President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s demand at the Feb. 19, 2022 Munich Security Conference, that Ukraine be allowed to have nuclear weapons—ed.). “Russia once again confirms its chronic inability to be a responsible steward of nuclear weapons as a means of deterrence and prevention of war, not as a tool of threats and intimidation,” the Ministry said.
