# Russian Use of Nuclear Weapons and Response rgd Ukraine **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** ukraine-invasion\ **Created:** [September 27, 2022, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-use-of-nuclear-weapons-and-response-rgd-ukraine/972339 "2022-09-27T20:40:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 304
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2023, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-use-of-nuclear-weapons-and-response-rgd-ukraine/972339/304 "2023-03-26T12:44:42Z")
Except for this: > Putin said Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has long asked to have nuclear weapons in his country again as a counter to NATO. Belarus shares borders with three NATO members — Latvia, Lithuania and Poland — and Russia used its [territory as a staging ground](https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-drones-hit-kyiv-2a8d03f70dc20eab9a8c150df8c04b37) to send troops into neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. > > Putin noted that Russia helped [modernize Belarusian military aircraft](https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-drones-hit-kyiv-2a8d03f70dc20eab9a8c150df8c04b37) last year to make them capable of carrying nuclear warheads. He said 10 such planes were ready to go. He said nuclear weapons also could be launched by the Iskander short-range missiles that Russia provided to Belarus last year. I’m sure staging warheads in the country that’s been asking for warheads for a long time, and already had two different weapon systems for delivering those warheads, will go exactly as Putin expects it to… Let me be the first to congratulate Belarus on becoming the world’s most recent nuclear power. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-use-of-nuclear-weapons-and-response-rgd-ukraine/972339)._