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Lukashenko claims Russian nuclear realignment was long overdue

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Lukashenko claims Russian nuclear realignment was long overdue
Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko looks on during a visit of Valaam Monastery with the Russian President Vladimir Putin, in northern Russia on July 25, 2024. (Photo by Alexander Kazakov/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, in a comment to a Russian reporter, said that recent changes to Russia's nuclear weapons policy were long overdue and would likely "cool the ardor" of Western nations.

In a video published on Oct. 13, Lukashenko noted that "hotheads" in the West had already noticed nuclear signals from Moscow even before President Vladimir Putin announced the policy changes last month.

On Sept. 25, Putin expanded the scenarios that could trigger a Russian nuclear response, including reliable intelligence of a large-scale cross-border attack involving aircraft, missiles, or drones. He also emphasized that any attack on Russia backed by a nuclear power would be treated as a joint assault.

The Kremlin’s move was a direct response to discussions in the U.S. and U.K. about allowing Ukraine to strike deep into Russian territory with Western-supplied long-range conventional missiles.

"This doctrine should have been renewed long ago," Lukashenko remarked. Last year, he agreed with Putin to station Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. He warned that without Putin’s earlier nuclear signals, "Western missiles would already be bombing us, especially Russia."

Ukraine has condemned Russia's nuclear posture as blackmail, with President Volodymyr Zelensky urging Western leaders to ignore Putin's "red lines." Moscow insists that its warnings are genuine. Putin warned that if the U.S. and its allies approve Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles, they will be directly engaging in the war against Russia.

Opinion: Is Russia’s new nuclear doctrine a game of bluff or a shift in strategy?
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a seemingly significant modification of Russia’s military doctrine in a statement on Sept. 25. He revealed that the new doctrine would propose considering aggression against Russia by a non-nuclear state, “with the participation or support of a nuclear stat…
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Olena Goncharova

Head of North America desk

Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.

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