Lukashenko says he could launch Russian nuclear weapons - BBC News

The President of Belarus has suggested that he could use tactical nuclear weapons, which are being deployed in his country by Russia.

Alexander Lukashenko is a close ally of the Russian President Vladimir Putin and his country served as a launchpad for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Recently President Putin announced that Russian nuclear weapons had been deployed in Belarus. He said they would only be used if the Russian state or its territory was threatened.

Speaking to the BBC’s Russia Editor Steve Rosenberg, the Belarus President Lukashenko insisted that he could launch the weapons if he chose to. He said: “In Ukraine a whole army is fighting with foreign weapons, with NATO weapons. So why can’t I fight with someone else’s?”

Mr Lukashenko also said that the leader of the Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin was in Russia. The Wagner leader hasn’t been seen since he staged a mutiny against Russia’s military leadership.

Clive Myrie presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Steve Rosenberg in Minsk and Gordon Corera in Kyiv.