Russia will transfer nuclear-capable Iskander-M missile systems to ally Belarus in the coming months, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday.
Putin told Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko at a meeting in St. Petersburg that the systems “can use ballistic and cruise missiles, both in conventional and nuclear versions,” according to the Kremlin.
Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24 with troops departing Belarusian territory. During the war, Moscow used Minsk as a satellite base, including for many of its air operations in Ukraine, according to information gathered by NATO surveillance planes.
On Saturday, Ukraine claimed that Russian forces fired several missiles from Belarus in the Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions.
In a transcript of the meeting, Lukashenko expressed to Putin his “stress” over what he claimed were US and NATO plane flights “training to transport nuclear warheads” near the Belarus border.
Lukashenko asked Putin to consider “a mirror response” to the flights or to convert Russian fighter jets, currently deployed in the neighboring country, to “carry nuclear warheads”.
Putin responded that “there is no need” to match US flights and suggested that Belarus could modify its own Su-25 aircraft to be nuclear-capable.
“This modernization is to be carried out at aircraft factories in Russia, but we will agree with you on how to do this. So start training the flight crew,” Putin said.
Iskander-M
The Iskander-M is a Russian-built short-range ballistic missile system that can carry conventional or nuclear warheads with a maximum range of up to 500 kilometers, according to Janes Defense.
The weapon uses optical guidance systems to target its targets, hitting them with a variety of warheads such as cluster munitions, vacuum bombs, bunker destroyers and electromagnetic pulse (EMP) warheads, according to the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance. .
The Iskander-M was first used in 2008 during the Russian-Georgia conflict, when the Russian army used it to hit targets in Gori, according to the Alliance.
THE CNN contacted the Pentagon for comment on Lukashenko’s allegations.
Source: CNN Brasil
