Belarus President Willing to Host Russian Nukes If NATO’s Move Further East

On Tuesday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said if NATO moves nuclear weapons into Eastern Europe, Belarus would be willing to host Russian nukes in response.

“I would offer Putin to return nuclear weapons to Belarus,” Lukashenko said when asked how he would respond to NATO’s nukes moving further east.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg recently threatened to move the alliance’s nuclear weapons closer to Russia if Germany’s incoming government didn’t want to host them anymore. Germany doesn’t have nuclear weapons of its own but houses about 20 US warheads and planes that can deliver them as part of a NATO nuclear sharing agreement.

“Germany can, of course, decide whether there will be nuclear weapons in your country, but the alternative is that we easily end up with nuclear weapons in other countries in Europe, also to the east of Germany,” Stoltenberg said earlier this month.

Members of the political parties forming Germany’s new coalition government have previously expressed opposition to hosting the US bombs, causing concern for NATO. But for now, it doesn’t appear there will be any change. The German parties said in a coalition deal last week that the country would continue hosting the weapons.

“As long as nuclear weapons play a role in NATO’s strategic concept, Germany has an interest in participating in strategic discussions and planning processes,” the coalition said.