A senior US defense official called Belarus “very irresponsible” of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “cavalry” language surrounding nuclear-capable missile systems.
“Our strategic forces are always monitoring things in this regard,” the official said in a background call to reporters. “We’re definitely taking this seriously and have taken that threat seriously from the start.”
Here is the full quote:
“Certainly whenever someone uses the word nuclear, you worry. To be honest, it’s very non-verbal for a national leader to talk about the use of nuclear weapons and generally do so in a cavalier fashion. Sounds responsible. In terms of my concerns, other than the fact that they talk again, I mean the way that statement from Putin was read, hey we’re going to give them Iskander, and oh the way So they can have nuclear weapons. And when you use that language, everybody takes it very seriously. So we’re definitely taking it seriously and taking that threat seriously from the very beginning And as you know, our strategic forces are always monitoring things in this regard.”
Some more context: Russia will transfer the nuclear-capable Iskander-M missile system to Belarus in the coming months, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko at a meeting in St Petersburg on Saturday.
According to the Kremlin, Putin told Lukashenko, “In the next few months, we will transfer the Iskander-M strategic missile systems to Belarus, as you know, using both ballistic and cruise missiles in both conventional and nuclear versions. can.” ,
In a transcript of the meeting, Lukashenko expressed his “tension” to Putin and concerns that what he alleged are “training to carry nuclear weapons” flights by the United States and NATO aircraft close to the Belarus border. .
Lukashenko asked Putin to consider “a reflective response” to the flights or to convert Russia’s Su-35 fighter jets, currently stationed in Belarus, so that “they can carry nuclear weapons.”
Putin replied that although matching US flights is possible, “there is no need,” and suggested that because Belarus’ military has a large number of Su-25 aircraft that could be converted to nuclear-capable.
“This modernization should be carried out in aircraft factories in Russia, but we will agree with you how to do it. And accordingly, start training flight crews, ”said Putin.
According to Jens Defence, Iskander-M is a Russian-made short-range ballistic missile system that can carry conventional or nuclear warheads with a maximum range of up to 500 km (310 mi).
According to the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, the weapon uses both optical and inertial guidance systems to strike its targets, hitting them with multiple warheads such as cluster warheads, vacuum bombs, bunker-busters and electromagnetic pulse (EMP) warheads.
The Iskander-M was first used in 2008 during the Russo-Georgia conflict, when the Russian military used it to hit targets in Ghori, according to the coalition.
Maria Knight and Johnny Hallam contributed to this report