DISINFO: Russia’s nuclear deployment to Belarus is a response to NATO expansionism
SUMMARY
Russia’s deployment of nuclear armament to Belarus can be seen as Moscow’s response to NATO’s expansionism of the last 30 years towards the borders of the Eurasian country.
RESPONSE
Pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about NATO and encircled Russia.
Framing the attempts to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus as a “response to NATO expansionism” is a prefabricated argument to justify Russia’s nuclear warmongering, part of a wider disinformation campaign aiming at coercing Western nations to cease aid to Ukraine for its self-defence against Russian aggression.
Although Vladimir Putin stated on 25 March 2023 that Russia will station nuclear weapons on Belarusian facilities whose construction will be ready by 1 July -an allegation repeated afterwards by other Russian and Belarusian officials-, experts are very sceptic about the feasibility of this move, as there is no indication of any step taken in this regard.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives in our database, such as claims that NATO destroyed trust in the new START treaty, that Western leaders’ nuclear rhetoric is becoming increasingly ferocious, that Ukraine asked NATO for preemptive nuclear strikes against Russia, or that Russia doesn’t threaten anyone with nuclear weapons.