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Putin’s plan to move nuclear weapons to Belarus is ‘worrisome,’ Joe Biden tells Polish Radio

29.03.2023 09:00
Vladimir Putin’s decision to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus is “dangerous” and “worrisome,” US President Joe Biden has said.
US President Joe Biden
US President Joe BidenPhoto: EPA/MICHAEL REYNOLDS

Biden made the remark after arriving at the White House via Marine One helicopter from North Carolina on Tuesday night, public broadcaster Polish Radio's IAR news agency reported. 

Biden's statement came after the Russian president said on Saturday that he was planning to station tactical nuclear weapons in neighbouring Belarus and that Minsk would have a storage facility for Russian nuclear weapons ready by July 1.

Putin’s announcement ‘dangerous’ and ‘worrisome’: Biden

Talking to reporters at the White House, Biden said that the deployment of Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus had not happened yet. 

Asked by Polish Radio’s White House correspondent Marek Wałkuski how he would interpret Putin’s announcement on Saturday, the US president replied: “What I've been talking to you guys about for the last year: This is a dangerous kind of talk he uses, and it's worrisome."

‘No signs Russia is closer to using tactical nuclear weapons’: White House

Earlier in the day, John Kirby, the coordinator for strategic communications at America’s National Security Council, told reporters about Putin’s statement on Belarus: “We're watching this as best we can. We haven't seen any movement by Mr. Putin to act on what he pledged he would do."

Kirby added: "And we haven't seen any indications that Mr. Putin is leaning towards or getting closer to or indicating any preparations for the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine."

Kirby was responding to a question from Polish Radio’s Marek Wałkuski, who asked him how the United States would respond if Russia did station nuclear weapons in Belarus, and whether President Biden would then be prepared to move nuclear missiles closer to Russia, for example to Poland.

The White House official said he would not discuss “hypothetical scenarios” and called Russia’s nuclear rhetoric “irresponsible,” Polish Radio’s polskieradio24.pl website reported.  

Wednesday is day 399 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

(pm/gs)

Source: IAR, polskieradio24.pl, whitehouse.gov