Lithuania and Poland call on NATO to respond to Russian nuclear weapons deployment in Belarus
Some politicians believe that Moscow timed the transportation of nuclear weapons to Belarus just in time for the NATO summit
Russia's deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus requires an adequate response from the North Atlantic Alliance, according to the leaders of Eastern European countries.
NATO needs to improve its plans for the defense of the Baltic states, said Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuanian Foreign Minister, in a commentary to the Financial Times.
It is necessary to strengthen the permanent defense of the Baltic states in general and Lithuania in particular, "because our territory is vulnerable," the minister said.
On July 7-8, the construction of nuclear munitions facilities in Belarus is scheduled to be completed, after which the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons will begin immediately, Russian dictator Putin said at a meeting with Lukashenko on June 9. He called the security situation stable, "even good."
Meanwhile, a NATO summit will be held in Vilnius on July 11-12. Some politicians in the Baltic states believe that Moscow has timed the transportation of nuclear weapons to Belarus to coincide with this event.
NATO has already deployed additional battalions to Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, and negotiations are underway to increase arms supplies. But the plans already prepared are only good in case of a crisis, insists Landsbergis:
"The question is, what do we do in peacetime? What message do we send to Putin? Unfortunately, there is no such message so far," he emphasized.
Polish President Andrzej Duda also called for a response to the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons. "I am absolutely sure that this situation requires an unequivocal response from NATO," he said on Monday ahead of talks with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Background. To recap, Macron said that the Ukrainian offensive "will last from several weeks to several months" and that Russia has already lost. Duda, for his part, called for sending a clear signal to Ukrainians about the prospect of NATO membership.
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