Belarusian and Russian Armies Conduct Drills on Nuclear Force Use

Sudanhorizon – Sputnik

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced on Thursday during a video meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that the Belarusian and Russian armies conduct joint exercises every quarter on the use of nuclear weapons and nuclear support operations.

According to the Belarusian news agency BelTA, Lukashenko told Putin during the meeting: “This is the first joint exercise of its kind, but in terms of its elements and components, our general staffs and defense ministers conduct such drills every quarter, though without our participation as presidents. We discussed the possibility of involving the presidents last winter.”

He added: “I fully support you. We pose no threat to anyone, but we possess these weapons and are prepared to defend our common homeland from Brest to Vladivostok by all available means. If we have something in our hands, we must know how to use it.”

Earlier on Thursday, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that nuclear munitions had been transferred to field storage points within deployment zones in Belarus as part of Russian nuclear force exercises.

In a statement, the ministry said: “Within the framework of nuclear force exercises, the transfer of nuclear munitions to field storage sites belonging to the missile brigade deployment area in the Republic of Belarus has been secured.”

The ministry also stated that a Belarusian missile unit is carrying out drills on preparing launches of the Iskander-M operational-tactical missile system using special munitions.

It added that personnel of the Belarusian missile unit are conducting combat training tasks involving the receipt of special munitions for the Iskander-M system, preparation of launch platforms, and covert movement to designated areas in preparation for launch operations.

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