Dismantling of nuclear non-proliferation regime won't be forgiven for Putin – former Ukraine's UN envoy Yelchenko

Volodymyr Yelchenko, a diplomat and former Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations, said this on Espreso.

“Putin's statement about nuclear weapons is a classic knife in China's back. A couple of days after Xi Jinping's visit to Moscow, Putin immediately started violating everything he could. One of the documents signed with China directly states that China and Russia will not deploy nuclear weapons on the territory of third countries,” Yelchenko said.

The diplomat added that this is a direct and blatant violation of New START, which more or less existed.

“This is one of the foundations of the world order we have today. On the other hand, while Russia has long disregarded the UN Charter and all the principles of international law, Putin has now moved on to violate the nuclear regime that exists in the world. Russia is doing what was expected – it is beginning to dismantle not only the legal system of collective security that exists in the world, but also has gotten its hands on the nuclear nonproliferation regime. This is sacred – Putin and Lukashenko will not be forgiven,” Yelchenko said.

In his opinion, this move was not unexpected.

“For complete happiness, Putin should declare that he did not violate anything, because Belarus does not exist as an independent state – 'we have nuclear weapons on our own territory.' De facto, this is already the case – Belarus is occupied by the Russian Federation. De jure, we just need to hear Putin make such a statement. After that, there will be nothing to talk about with him at all,” the diplomat summarized.

• Vladimir Putin said that a storage facility for Russian tactical nuclear weapons will be completed in Belarus by July 1.

• The Institute for the Study of War reported that Putin announced the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus in order to intimidate the West and reduce the effectiveness of Ukraine's counteroffensive.

• NSDC Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said that the placement of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus will make Putin more unpopular in Belarus. Mykhailo Podolyak noted that this step proves that Putin is afraid of losing the war.

• Vladimir Putin said that a storage facility for Russian tactical nuclear weapons will be completed in Belarus by July 1.

• The Institute for the Study of War reported that Putin announced the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus in order to scare the West and reduce the effectiveness of Ukraine's counteroffensive.

• Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, said that the placement of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus makes Putin more unpopular in Belarusian society. Mykhailo Podolyak noted that this step proves that Vladimir Putin is afraid of losing the war.

• The German Foreign Ministry criticized Russia's placement of nuclear weapons in Belarus and called it "an intimidation attempt."

• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reacted to Russia's intentions to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus and demanded to convene the UN Security Council.

• In turn, the head of diplomacy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, said that if the Russian Federation deploys nuclear weapons in Belarus, the EU will introduce new sanctions.

• The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs called such an intention of the Russian president a step towards further drawing the country into the military machine.

• The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry called for additional economic restrictions against Moscow and Minsk to be included in the new EU sanctions package because of the Kremlin's statements about the deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus.