NATO Must Answer Putin’s Latest Nuclear Threat Tit-For-Tat
It seems that Russia will display its atomic bombs in Belarus just as the Western allies gather nearby in Lithuania. There must be consequences.
Putin and Lukashenko, a fissile pair.
Photographer: Alexey Nikolsky/AFP via Getty Images
It doesn’t get more reckless and incendiary than this. Russian President Vladimir Putin is stationing nuclear weapons in his neighboring vassal state of Belarus in July, right as the 31 NATO allies meet next door in Lithuania for their annual shindig. That rattle of his nuclear sabers will be the latest of many since he attacked Ukraine last year. NATO cannot leave this escalation unanswered. The question isn’t whether to respond, but how.
Putin’s timing says it all. He first announced his intention of arming Belarus with Russian nukes in March. This month he told his pet dictator in Minsk, Alexander Lukashenko, that preparations would be complete by July 8, and that the warheads would show up right after that. This week, he said the first ones have already arrived. The NATO summit in Vilnius will take place on July 11-12.