WASHINGTON, August 18. /TASS/. The US administration currently sees no reason to change its strategic nuclear posture over any measures taken by Russia and Belarus, Pentagon Spokesman Patrick Ryder has told reporters.
"I'm not going to get into any type of intelligence. We have seen those press reports coming out of Russia saying that they were going to do this," he said, answering to a question about the possible deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus and about Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s declared readiness to use the "entire arsenal" of his country in case of a military aggression against Belarus.
"I'm not going to comment on that specifically," he continued. "I will tell you broadly speaking we have not seen anything that would cause us to change the posture of our own strategic forces."
He added that the US military saw no indication that Russia has made a decision to employ nuclear weapons, as it relates to the conflict in Ukraine.
Belarus will instantly respond if Ukraine, the Baltic countries or Poland act aggressively against it, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday in an interview with Ukrainian journalist Diana Panchenko, published on her YouTube channel. "There can only be one threat: aggression against our country. If aggression begins even on the part of Ukraine, on the part of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, we will respond instantly with everything that we have," he said.
According to the Belarusian leader, the response will be overwhelming and the country will not wait or delay and will use "the entire arsenal," he added.
On March 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that at Minsk’s request, Moscow would deploy its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, similar to what the United States had long been doing on the territory of its allies. Moscow has already provided Minsk with Iskander tactical missile systems capable of carrying nuclear weapons and has helped Minsk to re-equip its planes to carry specialized weapons. Belarusian missile crews and pilots have undergone training in Russia.
On June 16, Putin said that the first Russian nuclear warheads had already been delivered to Belarus and the entire batch would be deployed by the end of the year. On June 23, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that a significant part of the warheads planned to be delivered had already arrived in the republic.