WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th June, 2023) The United States does not see any connection between the presence of the private military company Wagner Group in Belarus and the transfer of nuclear weapons by Russia there, State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Thursday.
"I don't necessarily see a connection between the two, both on their own are concerning," Miller told a briefing.
Earlier in the week, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said a large part of the Russian nuclear weapons earmarked for deployment to his country has arrived, according to the Belta news agency.
Lukashenko also said that Minsk is developing an algorithm for the use of tactical nuclear weapons in the case of external aggression.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in mid-June that Moscow had transferred the first part of the nuclear warheads to Belarus and would complete the task of moving tactical nuclear weapons by the end of the year. Putin said the deployment was an element of deterrence and a signal to those thinking about inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia.
The Wagner Group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin seized an army headquarters in the Russian southern city of Rostov-on-Don on the night of June 23 and moved toward Moscow on the following day. Prigozhin presented his actions as a response to the alleged attack on his group's field camps by the defense ministry, which the latter denied. Prigozhin agreed to stop the mutiny after negotiations with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who acted at the request of Russian President Vladimir Putin. On Tuesday, Lukashenko confirmed that Prigozhin had arrived in Belarus.
