The US defence intelligence "has no reason to doubt" Moscow's intention to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus and hinted at the fact that the transfer had already gone ahead, senior agency officials said on Friday and quoted by CNN.
Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested last month at an economic forum in St Petersburg that "the first nuclear warheads [had] been delivered to the territory of Belarus," adding that they had been transported there for "deterrence" purposes.
According to the Federation of American Scientists, Russia has more than 4,477 nuclear warheads, including 1,900 tactical nuclear weapons, reports CNN. The American media outlet adds that the total number of weapons that Putin intends to establish in Belarus is not yet known. Western allies have not publicly confirmed that such an arsenal has already been moved to the country.
According to senior US officials, analysts "have no reason to doubt" the Russian President's assertions, nor do they have any reason to doubt the successful delivery of this weaponry.
These insiders do not elaborate on how they arrived at this conclusion. They acknowledge that these weapons are difficult for American intelligence services to track down, even with satellite images, according to CNN.
Putin speaks
Vladimir Putin had stated that Russia would begin deploying nuclear warheads in Belarus in July. "As you know, the installation of the facilities (housing the nuclear weapons) will be completed on 7 or 8 July, and we will immediately take steps to deploy the weapons in question on your territory," said Putin during a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko in Sochi (south-west Russia) last month.
On 25 March, Putin announced that Moscow was going to deploy "tactical" nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus, a country on the doorstep of the European Union, fuelling fears of an escalation of the conflict in Ukraine. So-called “tactical” nuclear weapons can cause immense damage, but their range of destruction is more limited than that of “strategic” nuclear weapons.
The announcement drew criticism from the international community, particularly the West, especially as the Russian leader has been talking about the possibility of using nuclear weapons since the start of Russia's military assault on their Ukrainian neighbour in February 2022.
After his disputed re-election in 2020, Lukashenko, who has been in power for nearly three decades, has grown considerably closer to Moscow, which provides financial, diplomatic and military support to his regime.
