Political scientist Byshok: Lukashenka’s words about nuclear weapons are a game of anticipation are a game of anticipation to show that the initiative comes from him. Stanislav Byshok, Executive Director of the International Monitoring Organization CIS-EMO, told Lente.ru about this.
“Russia should rather ask for such an opportunity, and not vice versa,” the political scientist said.
Byshok called Lukashenko's idea to return nuclear weapons to Belarus as a manifestation of the country's foreign policy strategy in recent years. “This story is not about nuclear weapons at all. This is a story about the continuation of a multi-vector policy. He feels that he needs to react to any actions in Poland, “the expert said.
Earlier, Lukashenko said that he would offer his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to return nuclear weapons to the republic if similar NATO systems are in Poland. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said earlier about plans to move American nuclear systems “to the east” if Germany refuses to deploy them.
At the same time, in July 1993 Belarus officially joined the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT ), voluntarily abandoning the systems left over after the collapse of the USSR. In response, Great Britain, Russia and the United States provided Minsk with security guarantees, fixing their obligations in the Budapest Memorandum. The withdrawal of nuclear weapons from the territory of Belarus was completed in November 1996.