News Edition 24 Desk: Moscow: Russia has deployed the first batch of strategic nuclear weapons in Belarus, Russian President Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying by a media outlet. Putin made the remarks during his speech at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. The BBC reported that he said they (tactical nuclear weapons) would only be used if there was a threat to Russian territory or statehood. The US government says there is no indication the Kremlin is planning to use nuclear weapons to attack Ukraine.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after Putin’s comments, “We do not see any indication that Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons.” The British news broadcaster reported that Putin said the transfer of strategic nuclear weapons would be completed by the end of the summer. When asked by the moderator of the forum about the possibility of using those weapons, he replied, Why should we threaten the whole world? I have already said that the use of extreme measures is possible in the event of a threat to the Russian state. Tactical nuclear weapons are small weapons intended for use on the battlefield or for limited attack. They are designed to destroy enemy targets in a specific area. The smallest tactical nuclear weapon may be one kiloton or less (producing the equivalent of one thousand tons of explosive TNT). The largest ones can be as large as 100 kilotons. Significantly, the atomic bomb that America dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 was 15 kilotons.