Something big taking place': Why has Russia sent more nukes to Belarus?

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko took part for the first time in rehearsals of Russia’s use of tactical and strategic nuclear weapons. Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin presided over joint military drills from Eastern Europe to the Pacific, involving hundreds of missile launchers, warplanes, warships, and nuclear submarines. Lukashenko said Belarus threatens no one and is ready to defend its common fatherland from Brest to Vladivostok. Belarus has long received political and economic backing from Moscow, including preferences for hydrocarbons, while resisting efforts to merge Belarus with Russia. Recent warming ties between Belarus and the United States are cited as a factor behind Minsk’s involvement. Putin said the drills aim to boost readiness of strategic and tactical nuclear forces and to apply experience from Russia’s war in Ukraine, including a Yars intercontinental hypersonic missile launch.

"Between Tuesday and Thursday, he and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin presided over joint military drills that covered the area from Eastern Europe to the Pacific and involved hundreds of Russian missile launchers, warplanes, warships and nuclear submarines. Lukashenko for the first time took part in the rehearsal of Russia's use of tactical and strategic nuclear weapons. The drills included command leadership by both presidents and operational participation across a wide geographic range."

"We threaten absolutely no one, said Lukashenko, a 71-year-old former collective farm director who has helmed his ex-Soviet nation since 1994. But we have such weapons, and we're ready in every possible way to defend our common fatherland from [the western Belarusian city of] Brest to [Russia's Pacific port of] Vladivostok. But Lukashenko, who is often labelled as Europe's last dictator, does not keep all his political eggs in one basket."

"Belarus enjoys economic preferences and cheap hydrocarbons, but Lukashenko managed to resist Putin's attempts to merge Belarus with Russia as part of union state deals dating back to the 1990s. And in recent months, ties between Belarus and the United States have warmed. So, what's behind Belarus's involvement in Russia's nuclear war games? It's important to further boost the level of readiness of strategic and tactical nuclear forces, Putin said on Thursday."

"Both Moscow and Minsk will take into account the experience of the special military operation, he said, referring to Russia's four-year-old war in Ukraine. He and Lukashenko ordered the launch of the intercontinental, hypersonic Yars missile capable of carrying three independently targetable nuclear missiles. In less than 20 minutes, the missile flew 5,750km (3,573 miles) from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the northwestern Arkhangelsk region to the Pacific Ka"

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