Russia expert decodes Putin's threat to place nuclear weapons next door to Ukraine
Russia expert decodes Putin's threat to place nuclear weapons next door to Ukraine
Russia plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus, President Vladimir Putin told state television. Moscow will complete the construction of a special storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus by the beginning of July, Putin told state broadcaster Russia 1. Former CNN Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty discusses why Putin may have made this new threat and if it should be taken seriously.
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0.133 -> Russian
0.367 -> President Vladimir
1.034 -> Putin says his country will now station
2.836 -> tactical nuclear weapons
4.404 -> right on NATO's doorstep.
6.106 -> Today, Putin announced an agreement
7.474 -> with Belarus
8.375 -> and says a special storage facility
10.71 -> for those weapons will be built there
12.212 -> by July.
13.38 -> As you can see, Belarus borders both
16.549 -> naito ally Poland and Ukraine and CNN.
19.386 -> A former CNN Moscow bureau
20.787 -> chief, Jill Dougherty, joins us now.
22.255 -> She's an adjunct professor
23.423 -> at Georgetown University.
25.859 -> Jill, I mean, we've we've heard
27.66 -> Vladimir Putin
28.361 -> try so many times
29.329 -> to be provocative when it comes to,
32.132 -> you know,
32.932 -> injecting the prospect of nuclear weapons
35.335 -> into this war in Ukraine.
37.437 -> Your reaction to this announcement?
38.938 -> Is it just more of that bluster?
40.64 -> Should it be taken more seriously?
44.778 -> I think what he's trying to do,
46.312 -> as usual, is raise the threat level.
49.549 -> And as soon as you use
50.817 -> the word
51.484 -> nuclear, regardless
53.119 -> what kind of nukes he's talking about
56.022 -> is frightening and it gets attention.
58.958 -> And I know saying that
59.759 -> we should diminish it, Jim,
61.061 -> that I think,
61.561 -> you know,
62.062 -> as usual with President
63.396 -> Putin, you have to read the fine print
65.498 -> and put it into context.
67.367 -> So what he's saying is
68.902 -> you said
69.602 -> that we will station these
71.805 -> tactical nuclear weapons,
73.606 -> you know, field weapons in Belarus.
77.243 -> And the question is, you know,
78.978 -> when will this happen? Maybe this summer.
81.648 -> But I think the important thing is he's
83.55 -> not saying
84.651 -> and in fact, he's
85.385 -> saying they will not put them
87.02 -> in the hands of Alexander Lukashenko,
89.989 -> who is the president of Belarus.
92.058 -> And that could be a problem.
93.96 -> He is keeping control,
95.395 -> he says, in the hands of himself,
98.598 -> obviously, and in Russia in general.
101.301 -> So I do think that
103.903 -> in all of these things,
105.505 -> as soon as you kind of begin
107.14 -> upping the ante
108.241 -> when you're talking
108.875 -> about nuclear weapons,
110.243 -> provocative, sometimes dangerous
113.113 -> But I do not think that,
115.648 -> you know, it's
116.516 -> panic time or anything like that.
118.651 -> It's Putin
119.686 -> trying to escalate
121.154 -> because he has problems
124.057 -> right.
124.491 -> I mean, we've seen that time and again
126.926 -> in Ukraine.
127.527 -> And do you think this decision
130.029 -> will force any sort of countermove
131.731 -> by the U.S.
132.632 -> or naito,
133.9 -> or do they just keep an eye on it
136.169 -> and see,
136.936 -> you know,
137.303 -> how much he really does deliver on this?
140.974 -> Well, don't forget that the United States
142.742 -> itself has tactical nuclear weapons
145.378 -> in Europe.
146.279 -> In fact,
147.113 -> Putin mentioned
147.847 -> there are six bases where they are kept
150.517 -> and that actually apparently is correct,
153.353 -> that there are six bases
154.854 -> where the United States
155.922 -> keeps weapons like that.
157.857 -> But they are really under
159.159 -> control of the U.S.
160.493 -> Air Force and they are on bases.
162.996 -> There are not just spread
164.164 -> all over the place.
165.331 -> So is Putin saying
166.833 -> and very much
168.101 -> we've seen this, Jim, in the Ukraine war,
170.403 -> you're doing something It's our turn.
173.106 -> We're going to do it.
175.041 -> But again, it you know,
176.709 -> it does upped the ante.
178.178 -> And if you have
178.811 -> more nuclear weapons there,
180.613 -> and then also I think it raises
182.315 -> a real question,
183.483 -> what why is Lukashenko
185.852 -> even agreeing to this?
187.52 -> You know,
187.82 -> this is something he gave up
189.889 -> nuclear weapons.
191.057 -> Ukraine Belarus,
192.392 -> they all gave him up
193.159 -> back in the early nineties.
194.694 -> Why does he want any type
196.696 -> of nuclear weapon back?
199.832 -> Right.
200.133 -> I mean,
200.7 -> and Joe, I
201.401 -> was just about to ask you that.
202.435 -> I mean, Belarus
203.97 -> has had no nuclear weapons
205.838 -> in its territory since the early 1990s.
209.676 -> That I mean, that of itself does
213.346 -> present an escalation.
214.781 -> I mean,
215.982 -> whether you want to call this a Cold War
217.617 -> between the U.S.
218.351 -> and Russia, I mean it is it's provocative
223.523 -> it's provocative.
224.39 -> And it's also is
225.325 -> I think, a sign of weakness,
226.759 -> you know,
227.293 -> weakness by Putin
228.561 -> because one of the only things
230.463 -> that he can do right
231.297 -> now, let's, let's look at a situation
233.366 -> He did not get a whole lot
235.401 -> out of that meeting
236.369 -> with the Chinese president Xi.
238.338 -> He is now the ICC has issued a warrant
241.808 -> for his arrest as a war criminal.
244.077 -> And then also the fighting in Ukraine
245.912 -> isn't going very well.
247.48 -> So the one thing that Vladimir Putin has
250.083 -> all the time in his pocket
251.918 -> is his nuclear weapons.
253.886 -> So he tends to
255.922 -> resort to bluster about those threats.
259.092 -> And I think that's what we've got here.
260.994 -> But every time you do that,
262.662 -> it does get more dangerous
264.03 -> because there will be apparently new
267.066 -> tactical weapons in Belarus.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_5R7UEh6OQ