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Russian Government's decision to put nuclear weapons in Belarus.

 On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans on Saturday to station nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus, sending a warning to NATO over its support to Ukraine and escalating stand off with West. While, Putin said the move would not violate nuclear non-proliferation promises, it is one of Russia's pronounced nuclear signals since the start of the war. He also added that this move was triggered by Britain's decisions this past week to provide Ukraine

 with armor-piercing rounds containing depleted uranium. In addition, Russia is presenting the deployment not just as a decision made by both countries,, but as a response to long-standing requests by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko. This is Russia's tried-and-tested way of showing respect for its ally, previously cited when dispatching Russian troops to Belarus for training exercises both last February- ahead of the invasion - and in October. Tactical nuclear weapons are intended  for use on the battlefield and a short range and a low yield compared with much more powerful nuclear warheads fitted to long-range weapons. Although, the Russian Government didn't clarified how many nuclear weapons Russians would keep in Belarus. The U.S. Government believes Russia has about 2,000 tactical nuclear weapons, which includes bombs that can be carried by tactical aircraft, warheads for short-range missiles and artillery rounds. Putin argued that by deploying its tactical nukes in Belarus, Russia was following the lead of the United States, noting that the United States has nuclear weapons based in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey. "We are doing what they have been doin for decades, stationing them in certain allied countries, preparing the launch platforms and training their crews", Putin said, speaking in an interview on state television that aired Saturday night. "We are going to do the same thing". Belarus, Kazakhstan and

 Ukraine had Soviet nuclear weapons stationed on their territory but handed them over to Russia after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Putin said Belarusian President Lukashenko has long asked to have nuclear weapons in his country again as a counter to NATO. Belarus shares border with three NATO members- Latvia, Lithuania and Poland- and Russia used its territory as a staging ground to send troops into neighboring Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The lack of detail appears to confirm that the aim of the announcement is to signal to Russia's adversaries-primarily the United States- that they still have time to change trajectory and agree terms with Russia to ensure that storage facility remains empty. If nuclear weapons in Belarus were actually required for military purposes, Russia would hardly have announced that publicly, in advance, and with a specific timeframe. It would clearly strengthen Belarusian ties to Russia, since the country would essentially acquire a new Russian military base. Ultimately, however, it changes little in relations between Minsk and Moscow, since both regimes have long since passed the point at which Putin might allow any uncontrolled political transformations in Belarus. In this context, deploying nuclear weapons give the Kremlin another reason to leave the Belarusian military stronghold under Lukashenko's control- but there were already plenty of reasons to do that.

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