Did Putin ‘Humiliate’ China’s Leader Xi By Deploying Nukes To Belarus?

ANALYSIS – It seems Russian leader Vladimir Putin didn’t like appearing as the junior partner to Chinese leader Xi Jinping during his recent visit to Moscow. Possibly as a show of independence, Putin quickly backtracked on a public promise on nukes he made with Xi just days earlier.

Or at least that is how it appeared and was reported by Newsweek.

In their joint statement on March 21, both countries announced they would not deploy nuclear weapons beyond their national borders.

“All nuclear powers must not deploy their nuclear weapons beyond their national territories & must withdraw all nuclear weapons deployed abroad.”

But only four days later, on Saturday, March 25, Putin reportedly announced the stationing of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, the close Russia ally bordering the north of Ukraine.

Or at least he announced the stationing of “nuclear-capable” tactical weapons.

“I would like to highlight that, without breaking our international commitments on not spreading nuclear weapons, we already helped our Belarus colleagues to re-equip their planes. Planes of Belarus Air Forces. Ten planes are ready for using this type of weapon,” Putin said.

“We already transferred to Belarus our well-known and very effective Iskander complex, and it can also be a [nuke] carrier.”

The 9K720 Iskander (NATO codename: SS-26 “Stone”) is a Russian hypersonic, nuclear-capable mobile short-range ballistic missile system. They travel at a terminal speed of nearly 6,000 mph (Mach 6-7) and can reach an altitude of 31 miles and a range of up to 310 miles.

If nuke warheads are actually deployed, they would be the first time Russia has placed nukes in Belarus since the end of the Cold War.

But Putin didn’t say that. He said he was re-equipping Belarus planes to be able to carry nukes and sending nuke-capable missiles.

Belarus has already ‘permitted’ Russian troops to invade Ukraine from the Belarus-Ukraine border, which provides closer access to the capital city of Kyiv.

Xi arrived in Moscow on March 21 to discuss China’s purported peace plan for Ukraine and show his limitless support for Putin. During Xi’s visit, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Putin announced a number of measures that showed Russia’s economic and energy dependence on China.

Some believe this may be the reason Putin decided to show his independence by promising to send nuclear-capable weapons to Belarus.

One expert even considered Putin’s action humiliating for Xi.

And according to him, it wasn’t just Putin who humiliated Xi.

Belarus strongman and Putin puppet Alexander Lukashenko also played a part in insulting the Chinese leader.

Former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul tweeted:

Both Putin and Lukashenko humiliated Xi . Remember, Luka was just treated to a fancy state visit to China. Xi just came to Moscow. Can’t imagine this decision is going down well in Beijing.

But one commentator disagreed by arguing that Belarus really isn’t its own country anyway: “Wait, is the world still pretending that Belarus is its own country?”

Meanwhile, others argued it was all coordinated between Putin and Xi beforehand.

And some noted this was part of the strategy – to deploy the tactical nukes to Belarus to force the U.S. and NATO to withdraw some of theirs or make other concessions.

It provides a chance for both Russia and US to take action: US withdraws its nuclear weapons from non-US countries and Russia does the same.

And Putin has accused the United States of “doing this” for decades:

“They [the U.S.] have long deployed their tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of their allied countries,” the Russian leader has said.

But the Associated Press reported that the Russian leader also argued more specifically now that he was deploying so-called tactical nuclear weapons to his neighboring Eastern European ally in response to the United Kingdom providing Ukraine with armor-piercing rounds containing depleted uranium.

Putin, somehow, is trying to equate depleted uranium anti-tank rounds with nukes.

But careful reading of Putin’s words might show that he is only deploying “nuclear capable” missiles and modifying Belarus aircraft to carry nukes.

The nuclear warheads or weapons themselves are not yet part of the package. Even to Putin, words matter.

This might all be smoke and mirrors and information ops or preparation for deploying the nukes later. But either way, in this case, Putin doesn’t seem to be crossing any nuke red lines yet.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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