The SU-24 warplanes used by the Belarusian military have been modified to carry nuclear weapons, according to President Alexander Lukashenko, who also stated on Friday that Minsk would act swiftly if the West caused it any issues.
According to the Belta news agency, Lukashenko claimed he had reached an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding the decision to modernise Belarusian warplanes.
Belarus, a devoted ally of Russia, does not possess nuclear weapons of its own. The possibility of a weapon transfer from Moscow, which is conducting what it refers to as its "special military operation" against Ukraine utilising Belarusian soil, was not specifically addressed by Lukashenko.
Belta cited Lukashenko as talking about a potential future threat from neighbouring Poland, a NATO member, while saying he was confident that the Polish military, unlike Warsaw’s politicians, understood how Minsk could respond to what he called any escalation.
His overall remarks appeared to be referring to a potential threat from the West in general.
“They (the West) must understand that if they opt for escalation no helicopters or planes will save them,” Lukashenko was quoted as saying.
“Everything was ready,” he said, referring to the work to modify Belarusian warplanes to carry nuclear weapons.
“It’s not a good idea to escalate things with Belarus because that would be an escalation with the Union State (of Russia and Belarus) which has nuclear weapons. If they start to create problems … the response will be immediate.”