Europe’s last dictator Alexander Lukashenko demands Russia give him NUKES in as war fears rage & migrant crisis grows
BELARUS’ president has demanded Russia hand over NUKES to deploy in the south and west of the country as war fears surge.
President Alexander Lukashenko – Europe’s last dictator – made the remarks as the migrant crisis at the country’s border with Poland rages on, with tensions between Warsaw and Minsk reaching boiling point.
Russia is a close ally of Belarus, which the European Union has accused of engineering a crisis on its border by flying in thousands of migrants and pushing them to try to cross illegally into Poland.
Brussels is gearing up to sanction Minsk.
Lukashenko told Russian defence magazine National Defence that he needs nuclear-capable Iskander mobile ballistic missile systems, which has a range of up to 500 kilometres and can carry either conventional or nuclear warheads.
“I need several divisions in the west and the south, let them stand (there),” he said.
EU members Poland and Lithuania lie to the west of Belarus. Its south borders Ukraine.
Lukashenko gave no indication of whether he had held any talks with Moscow about receiving the missile system.
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Russia’s Defence Ministry did not immediately reply to a request to comment.
Belarus and Russia are formally part of a “union state” and have been in talks for years to move closer together.
It comes as the dispute between Poland and Belarus escalates.
Last night, Belarusian troops ripped up the border fence and stopped Polish soldiers from rebuilding it as they were blinded by lasers and strobe lighting.
Belarusian forces also armed migrants with tear gas to use against Polish forces once across the border under orders from president Lukashenko.
International tension is growing over the crisis, with neighbours of Belarus warning the situation could escalate into a military conflict.
Belarus said on Saturday the number of migrants arriving at a makeshift camp on the border was growing daily, and that a group of up to 100 had crossed into Polish territory.
Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski estimated that about 1,500 people were camped at the border.
But the European Union has accused Belarus of instigating the crisis in a bid to put pressure on the bloc over sanctions.
Minsk denies this, and on Saturday Russian President Vladimir Putin, a key ally of Lukashenko, said Western countries were ultimately responsible for the crisis.
Some migrants have said Belarusian forces helped them cross the border, however.
On Saturday, the Polish army published footage that it said showed a group of about 50 migrants being escorted across the border by Belarusian forces.
The Polish Border Guard said Belarusian soldiers had pulled down a section of the temporary border fence.
In Lithuania, border guard officials released footage showing 70 migrants they said had been brought to the country’s border by Belarusian officials in trucks.
Poland, Austria, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have asked international aid agencies to organise humanitarian and medical assistance in Belarus to “avoid tragedies and prevent (a) humanitarian crisis” at the Polish border.
WAR FEARS
It comes as the body of a young Syrian man has been found in Poland near the border with Belarus, Polish police said on Saturday.
Thousands of migrants from the Middle East are sheltering in freezing conditions on the border between Belarus and EU states Poland and Lithuania, which are refusing to let them cross.
At least eight of them have already died and fears are growing for the safety of others as harsh winter conditions set in.
“A forest worker informed the police about finding the body of a young man,” Podlaska police spokesman Tomasz Krupa told Reuters, adding that the body and the man’s passport had been found on Friday.
“It is a young man of Syrian nationality around 20-years old,” Krupa said.
“It was not possible to determine the cause of death at the scene,” he added.
Meanwhile, it’s reported Russia may rely on a blitzkrieg-style assault to storm its way across Ukraine before the West could react should Vladimir Putin decide to invade.
Fears of war have loomed once again in Eastern European as US officials warned their allies of a very real threat looming from Russia.
Britain’s top general Nick Carter warned the chance of an “accidental” war with Russia is now the highest in decades.
And meanwhile Whitehall officials were described as being worried and twitchy about the troubling intel emerging from the East.
Russia has always insisted it means no harm to Ukraine – but the US have warned Putin to reconsider making a “serious mistake”.
With tensions raging in Ukraine, Russian bombers flying over the North Sea, and Putin accused of stoking a migrant row between Belarus and Poland – the region sits on a knife-edge.
Putin has long been accused of plotting to seize more territory from Ukraine after Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014.
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