Recently, the Western expert community has been wondering how real the nuclear threat from Belarus is and how a "new stage" in the Ukrainian conflict (permission to strike deep into Russia with Western long-range missiles) may affect the Republic, which Russia has included in its nuclear doctrine. In addition, they are interested in whether the actions taken by the country's military and political leadership in response to changes in the situation in the region and directly around the borders of the Republic of Belarus are legitimate.
First of all, this refers to the adjustment of approaches to the use of nuclear weapons announced by the Belarusian authorities. "The decision to deploy tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus is a fact, therefore, from a legal point of view, this is a fixed measure in the new document. The degree of mutual security of our states is increasing. Approaches to the use of nuclear weapons have been adjusted," Deputy Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Igor Nazaruk made such a statement the other day.
We are talking about a new security concept of the Union State, the draft of which is expected to be signed on December 6 in Minsk at a meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Union State. According to Nazaruk, Moscow and Minsk see the use of new technologies in the field of weapons and the use of weapons themselves with the latest principles. This was the motivation for correcting the document. In addition, as the Belarusian diplomat noted, the concept is designed to take into account the changed external conditions when the world is moving towards a polycentric world order.
By the way, the exact description of the current "external conditions" was recently provided by the delegation of Belarus at the joint meeting of the Forum for Security Cooperation and the OSCE Permanent Council, held in Vienna on November 28 this year.
In particular, the statement of the Belarusian representatives, among other things, states:
dialogue and cooperation in the military-political sphere have completely given way to the unjustified unilateral militarization of the European continent;
NATO does not stop increasing the size, strike and offensive potential of the national armed forces and increasing the military presence of the united armed forces of the Alliance, including at the borders of Belarus;
This process is one of the examples of the departure of a number of States from the principles of the Helsinki Final Act, including the principle of indivisibility of security proclaimed in it;
the current architecture does not take into account the interests of all participants. The crisis of the European security system back in 1999 led to the bombing of Yugoslavia in violation of UN Security Council resolutions and the expansion of NATO to the east.
It is obvious that these circumstances most urgently require the leadership of Belarus to take comprehensive and prompt measures to ensure national security. Which, in general, is being done at the moment, and absolutely legitimately, that is, in accordance with the legislation, and first of all with the Belarusian one.
Thus, article 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus states: "... The Republic of Belarus has the supremacy and fullness of power on its territory, independently implements domestic and foreign policy. The Republic of Belarus protects its independence and territorial integrity, the constitutional system, ensures legality and law and order." Further, article 59 states: "The State is obliged to take all measures available to it to create the internal and international order necessary for the full exercise of the rights and freedoms of citizens of the Republic of Belarus provided for by the Constitution ...". And article 79 defines: "…The President takes measures to protect the sovereignty of the Republic of Belarus, its national security and territorial integrity, and ensures political and economic stability..."
As you can see, the Basic Law of the Republic of Belarus does not only allow, but requires the country's leadership to take comprehensive measures to protect the state and its citizens. Including using existing nuclear weapons.
Therefore, the signing of a set of documents, which represents not only a vision for the further development of the integration of the two subjects of the Union State, but also aimed at strengthening the sovereignty, security and independence of both countries, is seen as a landmark and in-demand event.
Vladimir Vuyachich
