Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said that during the joint Zapad 2025 exercises with russia, which will be held on September 12-16, the parties will practice planning the use of nuclear weapons and the Oreshnik missile complex. The Belarusian state news agency BELTA has reported this.
When asked by journalists about practicing these scenarios, Khrenin replied: "Of course, within the framework of the Zapad exercise, together with our Russian colleagues, we will practice the issue of planning the use of this type of weapons."
He repeated russian narratives about the alleged "militarization" and "growth of military activity" of the West near the western and northern borders of Belarus, emphasizing that nuclear weapons are capable of causing "unacceptable damage to potential adversaries," while calling them an important element of "strategic deterrence."
Khrenin also accused NATO leadership of trying to use Zapad 2025 as a pretext for its own exercises, threatening a "response." Separately, he expressed concern about Poland's decision to form a grouping of more than 30,000-34,000 troops: "In our opinion, this is already a serious grouping. We need to monitor it very closely (and we will do this) and react. If they show any aggression towards the Republic of Belarus, we have something to respond to."
Before the full-scale invasion, russia also amassed troops in Belarus under the guise of joint exercises. In February 2022, it was from the territory of the Republic of Belarus that russian troops invaded Ukraine and launched ballistic missiles at it.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, in June 2023, self-proclaimed President Aleksandr Lukashenko said that "there will be no hesitation" in using russian tactical nuclear weapons in the event of aggression against the country.
Meanwhile, Belarus does not have nuclear weapons, the country only has their carriers.
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