Do Belarus have nuclear weapons? Russia is ready to place nuclear weapons in Belarus

Nuclear weapons in Belarus: no secrets?

The secrecy surrounding nuclear weapons gives rise to many rumors. There are also a lot of them in relation to Belarus. IN Soviet times in the Belarusian Military District (by the way, it was the only district in the USSR whose borders completely coincided with the borders of the republic) there was a powerful military group that possessed nuclear weapons. In reputable publications I have read about supposedly testing low-power nuclear weapons in Polesie, and in silly detective novels - about some secret bases for storing nuclear weapons in this region.

Vasily Semashko, www.naviny.by
To figure out what is truth and what is fiction about nuclear weapons in Belarus, I talked with Pavel Kozlovsky, once the chief of staff of the Belarusian Military District, and then the first Minister of Defense of Belarus. He said that nuclear weapons appeared in Belarus in the 1960s.
Nuclear explosive devices are placed: on intercontinental ballistic missiles, on operational-tactical, tactical missiles, in artillery shells, aerial bombs, torpedoes, and in the form of portable explosive devices.
Let's look at each of these media. Intercontinental ballistic missiles are the most formidable weapons. The President of the USSR could give a command for the right to use these missiles using the famous “nuclear briefcase.” Intercontinental missiles coming into outer space, are capable of hitting a target anywhere in the world within 40 minutes. Military units with intercontinental ballistic missiles (hereinafter ICBMs) reported directly to Moscow, headquarters missile forces strategic purpose (Strategic Missile Forces). The commander of the Belarusian Military District had no right to interfere in the affairs of the Strategic Missile Forces and did not receive any information from them. Even housing for the families of Strategic Missile Forces officers was built by construction units belonging to these troops.
First intercontinental missiles due to their size, they were only mine-based. According to Kozlovsky, in Belarus in the 1960s there were several such silos for, so to speak, primitive missiles. These mines have long been abandoned or destroyed during Soviet times. With the reduction in the size of ICBMs, it became possible to place them on automobile chassis. The mobility of missiles makes them significantly less vulnerable to an enemy first strike. The chassis for the Topol type ICBM was made by the Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant. People call them "centipedes" because large number wheels
From the mid-1970s to the end of the 1980s, missiles were based in many places in Belarus medium range- RSD-10 (“Pioneers”), capable of hitting targets in Western Europe. The missiles were placed on automobile chassis and most of the time were kept in concrete hangars. Under the Treaty on the Reduction of Medium-Range Missiles short range between the USA and the USSR in 1987, these missiles were destroyed. The last Pioneers were destroyed in May 1991. Their place, in much smaller numbers, was taken by the more powerful Topol intercontinental missiles. They are several meters longer. Because of this, they were not placed in the hangars left over from the Pioneers, and the launchers were constantly located in the open air.
In the last few years of the existence of the USSR, there were 3 headquarters of Strategic Missile Forces units in Belarus: in Lida, Pruzhany and Mozyr. Within a radius of several tens of kilometers from these places they were based on a car chassis rocket launchers ICBM "Topol". Each of these installations had at least three concrete launch pads (concrete thickness - 1.5 m) with side dimensions of several tens of meters. The launch pads had precisely measured coordinates, which, before the creation of the Glonass satellite navigation system, ensured the necessary hit accuracy. It is also possible to launch from unprepared positions, but in this case, preparing the rocket for launch takes longer. During the exercises, huge tractors, mostly at night, periodically moved to starting positions. There were 81 launch sites in Belarus. According to the arms reduction agreement with the United States, all sites were to be destroyed. Funds were allocated for this. But only 3 sites were destroyed, and at this point all work was suspended due to the deterioration of relations between Minsk and Washington.
After the collapse of the USSR, all units of the Strategic Missile Forces remained subordinate to Russia, but were withdrawn from Belarus only in 1996, when Russia prepared the necessary conditions for their deployment.
Nuclear weapons in the form of operational-tactical, tactical missiles, artillery shells and aerial bombs went to independent Belarus in 1991. Perhaps there were still small quantities of small portable nuclear mines for saboteurs.
Operational-tactical missiles have a range of up to 400 kilometers, tactical ones - up to 120, and nuclear artillery shells with a caliber of 120 mm and above have a firing range of approximately 10 to 30 kilometers.
The charges for the above-mentioned carriers were stored separately on special mobile missile technical bases (PRTB), and a very limited circle of military personnel directly involved in servicing these charges had the opportunity to enter such storage facilities. Before use, they were transported in special containers to the carrier locations (airfields, missile and artillery bases).
Having assumed the position of chief of staff of the Belarusian Military District, Pavel Kozlovsky visited the nuclear warhead storage base for the first time. The storage facility itself, according to him, was located on the territory of a military unit, in a concrete bunker underground at a depth of 1.5 meters, and had protective systems, including a high-voltage barbed wire fence. Soldiers guarded the vault conscript service this part. The storage facility maintained a certain temperature and humidity regime. The charges were located on several racks: missile warheads on one side, artillery warheads on the other.
“Like young piglets in stalls,” this is how Pavel Kozlovsky describes his impressions of his first visit to the storage facility. - Smooth, clean, nuclear warheads stood in neat rows. It is often described in books that if you put your hand on a nuclear charge, you will feel the heat from the slow decay of plutonium or uranium. I also put my hand on the smooth side. I didn’t feel any heat - the cold steel of a very durable case. While in the vault, I felt the enormous power hidden in the steel “pigs.”
All nuclear explosive devices have reliable protection systems. To bring a nuclear explosive device into combat readiness it is necessary to perform a series of sequential operations that are divided between several specialists. Every specialist knows only certain part operations. The safety automation of nuclear explosive devices evaluates the surrounding conditions and detonates the charge only after compliance necessary conditions, arising when delivering a charge to a specific target. When an unauthorized detonation or disassembly is attempted, complex electronic devices are rendered inoperable.
There are nuclear charges based on plutonium and uranium. Even if an explosion fails, simply dispersing uranium or plutonium can cause persistent radioactive contamination of the area - a disaster similar to Chernobyl. However, for this purpose it is much easier to use cesium, which is used in industrial devices. For terrorists, uranium is the most in demand due to the ease of making a nuclear explosive device from it.
According to Pavel Kozlovsky, in the early 1990s, a trained group of terrorists like the Chechens could, if they wanted, seize one of the nuclear weapons storage facilities in Belarus. The possibility of a surprise attack by trained terrorists was not seriously considered at that time. Of course, the army conducted exercises to protect important military installations from possible sabotage groups. During such exercises, the security of protected objects increased sharply, and after that it weakened again.
Some Belarusian politicians, including the president, have repeatedly expressed regret that Belarus has lost its nuclear weapons.
“For Belarus, nuclear weapons are an unaffordable luxury,” says Pavel Kozlovsky. - Even storing nuclear weapons is a very expensive business. Nuclear weapons require regular inspection and maintenance. Belarus does not have its own service specialists, and no country is willing to assist in their training. We will have to regularly invite specialists from Russian nuclear centers. Often preventive work with ammunition can only be carried out in the manufacturing plant. Transporting nuclear weapons to a manufacturing plant in Russia is not cheap. Nuclear weapons have a shelf life after which they must be disposed of. To do this, you will again have to contact Russian specialists and return the ammunition to the manufacturer. Not only nuclear weapons are becoming obsolete, but also the storage sites themselves. By the beginning of the 1990s, the security and alarm systems, air conditioning, and utility systems of warehouses became outdated and required replacement. Replacing all of this is a huge expense.”
According to Pavel Kozlovsky, the main reason why our authorities decided to get rid of nuclear weapons in the early 1990s is economic: poor Belarus cannot afford to maintain nuclear weapons.
Among the places where nuclear weapons storage facilities were located, the former Minister of Defense named the environs of Lepel, Shchuchin, Osipovichi, airfields near Minsk and Baranovichi, where the strategic aviation. I wanted to see for myself the conditions in which nuclear weapons were stored.
Of the places where nuclear weapons were stored, I chose to visit the military unit near Lepel, in the Vitebsk region. Now in this part, located in the area of ​​​​beautiful lakes, there is a sanatorium of the Ministry of Defense of Belarus and a military forestry. Many former military personnel work here.
Where military equipment once stood is now desolate. The premises are occupied by small wood processing and car repair businesses. Based on the preserved earthen rampart encircling an area the size of a football field, which protected objects located on it from direct shots, and the remains of several rows of barriers, I found the location of a mobile missile and technical battery. There were several firing points nearby for security. PTB at military bases is traditionally the most protected facility. Later, local residents confirmed that I had indeed found the site of the PTB.
The buildings that were once located there are now completely destroyed. In conversations with me, local residents were surprised when I mentioned the nuclear weapons stored near them. This is not surprising: even among the military personnel who served here, only a few knew what was stored behind a powerful earthen rampart surrounded by several fences.
I also discovered several dozen abandoned dummies of anti-tank mines, containing low-quality concrete instead of explosives. I measure the radioactive background. Everything is absolutely normal. It's hard to believe that terrible nuclear weapons were once located here.

On March 23, having taken part in the local elections, Alexander Lukashenko talked with journalists for a long time. Among other things, he said that events in Crimea are pushing small states to create nuclear weapons.

An abandoned nuclear storage facility on the territory of a long-range aviation airfield (Brest region), Virtual.brest.by

“This shameful document [Budapest Memorandum on Nuclear Safety Guarantees - "NN".] I had to sign in the presence of the Prime Minister of Great Britain, the President of the United States of America, Clinton was then, and Boris Yeltsin. When our great friends were taken out without any preconditions, they gave us nuclear weapons, the most modern ones, for free. And then Ukraine and Kazakhstan did it. Then three states - Russia, the USA and Great Britain - guaranteed us economic, political, military security, territorial integrity and so on,” Lukashenko said.

“It is dangerous that some states have already abandoned these agreements. Ukraine announced that it was withdrawing from this agreement. This frees up the hands, especially for threshold states that are just about ready to produce nuclear weapons. And the consequences could be even more dire. This is where a bad precedent is being created,” Lukashenko emphasized.

We discussed with Stanislav Shushkevich, ex-head of Belarus and head of the department nuclear physics BGU on whether Belarus can produce nuclear weapons on its territory.

Stanislav Shushkevich: Fortunately, Belarus cannot create its own atomic weapons. More precisely, it can, but if it turns the country into North Korea. Just keep in mind that we have three times fewer people than in the DPRK. The Soviet Union also did not leave us the technology to obtain substances for atomic weapons. But the most important thing is that there is nothing worse than the presence of atomic weapons on our territory.

"NN": Why?

SS: Belarus was a hostage.

Russia has turned us into a kind of barrier. If we had remained with the weapons, then Belarus would have become a target for a nuclear strike in any conflict. After all, Belarus would threaten the whole world.

What we had would have been absolutely enough to wipe Europe off the world map. I consider our greatest achievement to be that we removed weapons from the territory of Belarus. We would perish as a nation if we still had weapons. It can be revived, excuse me, only with a mind like Lukashenko’s. Fortunately, God did not give the carnivorous cow horns. We would not be able to defend ourselves with these weapons. They would have arrived to us much sooner than in Crimea Russian troops to isolate weapons from nationalist “terrorists”.

“NN”: Is it very expensive to produce your own nuclear weapons?

SS: It is expensive to keep it in such a condition that it remains a weapon. It rots like mushrooms if it is not “salted” and if you do not look after it. It is necessary to carry out preventive work, they are very expensive. But we don’t have Russian petrodollars. The USSR at one time donated many technologies to North Korea, and they, being a virtually starving country, produced these weapons. We won’t starve - we are in Europe. It would be necessary to build uranium enrichment plants, it would be necessary to buy the same uranium...

“NN”: Do we have the appropriate specialists?

SS: Yes, I have. And I think they would be capable of creating nuclear weapons. But this means destroying our people for such dubious purposes. But even for Ukraine it would not be as dangerous as for Belarus. After all, in Ukraine weapons were stored in mines, but in our country they were stored on the surface.

“NN”: Ukraine has uranium, but can it produce weapons?

SS: Ukraine has reasonable, normal politicians. They will never agree to have nuclear weapons. The entire - note - the entire Union created nuclear weapons. But Ukraine is smaller than the Union. By the way, there is also international agreements, according to which both Ukraine and Belarus pledged to be nuclear-free states.

“NN”: Several years ago there was information that highly enriched uranium, from which it is possible to make nuclear weapons, is stored in Sosny, near Minsk. This is true?

SS: Only Lukashenko could say this. Don't repeat his stories. Unfortunately, even today I do not have the right to give away certain secrets. But nothing worthwhile can be done from the existing highly radioactive waste that is stored not far from those very Pines. I once called Yeltsin with a proposal to give this garbage to Russia, which has the technology to process such substances. But this turned out to be unprofitable for Russia. We continue to save these radioactive substances, they are preserved normally and do not threaten anyone. With existing Belarusian technologies, they cannot even hint at raw materials for nuclear weapons.

“NN”: So this is still highly enriched uranium, right?

SS: In Belarus there was an IRT-2000 reactor that operated in Sosny. Today there is no reactor. Where did he go? He was not taken out. Waste remains from it. I can’t say where they are, what they are, it’s dangerous to disclose such information. Even with good technology, this is not enough for nuclear weapons.

“NN”: Doesn’t the nuclear power plant open the way for the creation of our own nuclear weapons?

SS: Any nuclear power plant can be used to produce materials that, after certain processing, can become the basis for nuclear weapons. There is an international organization, the IAEA, that monitors this. Today there is no project yet for the construction of the Ostrovets NPP - I’m telling you this for sure, because my former students work there.

There are many problems with the nuclear power plant near Ostrovets. The winds blow from there towards Minsk. This place was chosen to threaten a neighbor, but we will threaten ourselves.

“NN”: Returning to Lukashenko’s words: will European states now begin to produce their own nuclear weapons?

SS: They don't need it. NATO has nuclear weapons. France and Great Britain have them. Maybe it’s good that the Germans don’t have it. A balance has formed in Europe. NATO is led by educated people who never threaten with nuclear weapons. If the world will go along the path of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, then it will be the best option.

Nuclear weapons

Type of weapon of mass destruction, the action of which is based on the use of energy radioactive decay. It was first used in 1945 by the USA against Japan. Basic damaging factors nuclear weapons: shock wave, penetrating radiation, electromagnetic pulse, light radiation. The use of nuclear weapons causes severe radioactive contamination of the area. Artillery shells can serve as a means of delivering nuclear weapons. aerial bombs, rockets.

"Nuclear Club"

The conventional name of the group of so-called nuclear powers- states that have developed, produced and tested nuclear weapons. According to official data, the following countries currently possess nuclear weapons (based on the year of the first nuclear test): USA (since 1945), Russia (successor to the Soviet Union, 1949), Great Britain (1952), France (1960), China (1964), India (1974), Pakistan (1998) and DPRK (2006). Israel is also believed to have nuclear weapons.

Stanislav Shushkevich

Born in 1934 in Minsk. Physicist, statesman, the first leader of independent Belarus, one of the three participants in the signing of the Belovezhskaya Agreement, which legally secured the collapse of the USSR. Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (1991). Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (1970), Professor (1972). Honored Worker of Science and Technology of Belarus (1982).

In recent months, North Korea and the United States have been actively exchanging threats to destroy each other. Since both countries have nuclear arsenals, the world is closely monitoring the situation. On the Day of the Struggle for the Complete Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, we decided to remind who has them and in what quantities. Today, it is officially known that eight countries that form the so-called Nuclear Club have such weapons.

Who exactly has nuclear weapons?

The first and only state to use nuclear weapons against another country is USA. In August 1945, during World War II, the United States dropped nuclear bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The attack killed more than 200 thousand people.

Nuclear mushroom over Hiroshima (left) and Nagasaki (right). Source: wikipedia.org

Year of first test: 1945

Nuclear warheads: submarines, ballistic missiles and bombers

Number of warheads: 6800, including 1800 deployed (ready for use)

Russia has the largest nuclear stockpile. After the collapse of the Union, Russia became the only heir to the nuclear arsenal.

Year of first test: 1949

Nuclear charge carriers: submarines, missile systems, heavy bombers, and in the future - nuclear trains

Number of warheads: 7,000, including 1,950 deployed (ready for use)

United Kingdom is the only country that has not conducted a single test on its territory. The country has 4 submarines with nuclear warheads; other types of troops were disbanded by 1998.

Year of first test: 1952

Nuclear charge carriers: submarines

Number of warheads: 215, including 120 deployed (ready for use)

France conducted ground tests of a nuclear charge in Algeria, where it built a test site for this.

Year of first test: 1960

Nuclear charge carriers: submarines and fighter-bombers

Number of warheads: 300, including 280 deployed (ready for use)

China tests weapons only on its territory. China has pledged not to be the first to use nuclear weapons. China in the transfer of technology for the production of nuclear weapons to Pakistan.

Year of first test: 1964

Nuclear charge carriers: ballistic launch vehicles, submarines and strategic bombers

Number of warheads: 270 (in reserve)

India announced the possession of nuclear weapons in 1998. In the Indian Air Force, nuclear weapons carriers can be French and Russian tactical fighters.

Year of first test: 1974

Nuclear charge carriers: short, medium and extended range missiles

Number of warheads: 120−130 (in reserve)

Pakistan tested its weapons in response to Indian actions. The reaction to the emergence of nuclear weapons in the country was global sanctions. Recently former president Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf that Pakistan considered launching a nuclear strike on India in 2002. Bombs can be delivered by fighter-bombers.

Year of first test: 1998

Number of warheads: 130−140 (in reserve)

DPRK announced the development of nuclear weapons in 2005, and conducted its first test in 2006. In 2012, the country declared itself a nuclear power and made corresponding amendments to the Constitution. IN lately The DPRK conducts a lot of tests - the country has intercontinental ballistic missiles and threatens the United States with a nuclear strike on the American island of Guam, which is located 4 thousand km from the DPRK.

Year of first test: 2006

Nuclear charge carriers: nuclear bombs and missiles

Number of warheads: 10−20 (in reserve)

These 8 countries openly declare the presence of weapons, as well as the tests being carried out. The so-called “old” nuclear powers (USA, Russia, UK, France and China) signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, while the “young” nuclear powers - India and Pakistan refused to sign the document. North Korea first ratified the agreement and then withdrew its signature.

Who can develop nuclear weapons now?

The main "suspect" is Israel. Experts believe that Israel has owned nuclear weapons of its own production since the late 1960s and early 1970s. There were also opinions that the country conducted joint tests with South Africa. According to the Stockholm Peace Research Institute, Israel has about 80 nuclear warheads. The country can use fighter-bombers and submarines to deliver nuclear weapons.

Suspicions that Iraq develops weapons mass destruction, was one of the reasons for the invasion of the country by American and British troops (recall the famous speech of US Secretary of State Colin Powell at the UN in 2003, in which he stated that Iraq was working on programs to create biological and chemical weapons and possesses two of the three necessary components for the production of nuclear weapons. — Approx. TUT.BY). Later, the USA and Great Britain admitted that there were reasons for the invasion in 2003.

10 years under international sanctions was Iran due to the resumption of the uranium enrichment program in the country under President Ahmadinejad. In 2015, Iran and six international mediators entered into the so-called “nuclear deal” - they were withdrawn, and Iran pledged to limit its nuclear activities to “peaceful atoms” only, placing them under international control. With Donald Trump coming to power in the United States, Iran was reintroduced. Tehran, meanwhile, began.

Myanmar V recent years also suspected of attempting to create nuclear weapons, it was reported that technology was exported to the country North Korea. According to experts, Myanmar lacks the technical and financial capabilities to develop weapons.

IN different years many states were suspected of seeking or capable of creating nuclear weapons - Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Libya, Mexico, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Taiwan, Sweden. But the transition from a peaceful atom to a non-peaceful one either was not proven, or the countries curtailed their programs.

Which countries allowed to store nuclear bombs and which refused?

Some European countries store US warheads. According to the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) in 2016, 150-200 US nuclear bombs are stored in underground storage facilities in Europe and Turkey. Countries have aircraft capable of delivering charges to intended targets.

Bombs are stored at air bases in Germany(Büchel, more than 20 pieces), Italy(Aviano and Gedi, 70−110 pieces), Belgium(Kleine Brogel, 10−20 pieces), the Netherlands(Volkel, 10−20 pieces) and Turkey(Incirlik, 50−90 pieces).

In 2015, it was reported that the Americans would deploy the latest B61-12 atomic bombs at a base in Germany, and American instructors were training Polish and Baltic Air Force pilots to work with these nuclear weapons.

The United States recently announced that it was negotiating the deployment of its nuclear weapons, where they were stored until 1991.

Four countries voluntarily renounced nuclear weapons on their territory, including Belarus.

After the collapse of the USSR, Ukraine and Kazakhstan were in third and fourth place in the world in terms of the number of nuclear arsenals in the world. The countries agreed to the withdrawal of weapons to Russia under international security guarantees. Kazakhstan transferred strategic bombers to Russia, and sold uranium to the United States. In 2008, the country's President Nursultan Nazarbayev was nominated for Nobel Prize world for its contribution to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Ukraine in recent years there has been talk of restoring the country's nuclear status. In 2016, the Verkhovna Rada proposed repealing the law “On Ukraine’s accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.” Previously Secretary of the Council national security Ukraine's Alexander Turchynov stated that Kyiv is ready to use available resources to create effective weapons.

IN Belarus ended in November 1996. Subsequently, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko more than once called this decision the most serious mistake. In his opinion, “if there were nuclear weapons left in the country, they would be talking to us differently now.”

South Africa is the only country that independently produced nuclear weapons, and after the fall of the apartheid regime voluntarily abandoned them.

Who curtailed their nuclear programs

A number of countries voluntarily, and some under pressure, either curtailed or abandoned their nuclear program at the planning stage. So, for example, Australia in the 1960s after providing its territory for nuclear tests Great Britain decided to build reactors and build a uranium enrichment plant. However, after internal political debates, the program was curtailed.

Brazil after unsuccessful cooperation with Germany in the field of nuclear weapons development in the 1970–90s, it conducted a “parallel” nuclear program outside the control of the IAEA. Work was carried out on the extraction of uranium, as well as on its enrichment, albeit at the laboratory level. In the 1990s and 2000s, Brazil recognized the existence of such a program, and it was later closed. The country now has nuclear technology, which, if a political decision is made, will allow it to quickly begin developing weapons.

Argentina began its development in the wake of rivalry with Brazil. The program received its greatest boost in the 1970s when the military came to power, but by the 1990s the administration had changed to a civilian one. When the program was terminated, experts estimated that about a year of work remained to achieve the technological potential of creating nuclear weapons. As a result, in 1991, Argentina and Brazil signed an agreement on the use of nuclear energy exclusively for peaceful purposes.

Libya under Muammar Gaddafi after unsuccessful attempts decided to purchase ready-made weapons from China and Pakistan for its nuclear program. In the 1990s, Libya was able to purchase 20 centrifuges for uranium enrichment, but a lack of technology and qualified personnel prevented the creation of nuclear weapons. In 2003, after negotiations with the UK and the US, Libya curtailed its weapons of mass destruction program.

Egypt abandoned the nuclear program after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Taiwan carried out his developments for 25 years. In 1976, under pressure from the IAEA and the United States, it officially abandoned the program and dismantled the plutonium separation facility. However, he later resumed nuclear research in secret. In 1987, one of the leaders of the Zhongshan Institute of Science and Technology fled to the United States and spoke about the program. As a result, work was stopped.

In 1957 Switzerland created a Commission to study the possibility of possessing nuclear weapons, which came to the conclusion that weapons were necessary. Options were considered for purchasing weapons from the USA, Great Britain or the USSR, as well as developing them with France and Sweden. ABOUT However, by the end of the 1960s the situation in Europe had calmed down, and Switzerland signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Then for some time the country supplied nuclear technologies abroad.

Sweden has been actively developing since 1946. Its distinctive feature was the creation of a nuclear infrastructure; the country's leadership was focused on the implementation of the concept of a closed nuclear fuel cycle. As a result, by the end of the 1960s, Sweden was ready for mass production of nuclear warheads. In the 1970s, the nuclear program was closed because... the authorities decided that the country would not be able to cope with simultaneous development modern species conventional weapons and the creation of a nuclear arsenal.

South Korea began its development in the late 1950s. In 1973, the Weapons Research Committee developed a 6-10 year plan to develop nuclear weapons. Negotiations were held with France on the construction of a plant for radiochemical processing of irradiated nuclear fuel and the release of plutonium. However, France refused to cooperate. In 1975, South Korea ratified the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The United States promised to provide the country with a “nuclear umbrella.” After American President Carter announced his intention to withdraw troops from Korea, the country secretly resumed its nuclear program. The work continued until 2004, when it became public knowledge. South Korea has curtailed its program, but today the country is capable of short terms carry out the development of nuclear weapons.

Belarus threatened the West with a possible withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). According to official Minsk, the United States and Great Britain, by applying economic sanctions against Belarus, violated their obligations towards the country. And therefore, in Minsk they may stop observing these conditions. At least this was stated by the Belarusian delegation in Geneva at the second session of the Preparatory Committee of the NPT Review Conference.

The Belarusian side emphasized that it is very important for it that the tripartite security guarantees provided in accordance with the 1994 Budapest Memorandum in connection with voluntary refusal Belarus from the right to possess nuclear weapons. “Three states - Great Britain, Russia and the USA - have committed themselves to respect the independence and sovereignty of Belarus, including not to use measures of economic coercion,” the Belarusian delegates emphasized. And since there are sanctions, it means that Western partners are encroaching on the independence of Belarus.

“A reasonable question arises why, despite recorded and repeatedly confirmed commitments, some nuclear powers ignore them in practice, continuing to apply measures of economic and political pressure. The economic coercive measures taken by the UK and the US in relation to Belarus in the form of sanctions must be cancelled. Budapest Memorandum in November 2012 registered with the UN as international treaty. Violation of accepted legal obligations is an unacceptable norm of behavior of states from the point of view international law", the Belarusian side emphasized.

The irritation of official Minsk is understandable. The US and EU are applying a whole range of political and economic sanctions to Belarus. The EU blacklist currently includes 243 individuals and 32 companies providing support to the “Lukashenko regime”. The number of those on the US “blacklist” is unknown, but perhaps it is even greater. It's about about budget-generating companies - such as "Belspetsexport", "Belneftekhim", "Belaruskali". They sell their products mainly in foreign countries. This means that sanctions are a direct blow to the country’s budget.

Along the way, Belarus reached a new – almost Soviet – level of military integration with Russia. In May, the allies will hold large-scale exercises "Zapad-2013", where they will practice possible nuclear attack in Warsaw. The exercises will take place in close proximity to the Polish borders. In addition, Russia for the first time announced that it plans to permanently deploy its air regiment with fighter jets in Belarus by 2015. As Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said, the start of work on this project is planned for this year: Moscow will locate an aviation commandant’s office with its neighbors and supply the first duty unit of combat fighters. “We intend to continue to consider issues necessary to strengthen the defense capability of our Belarusian colleagues and brothers,” Shoigu emphasized.

Director of the Minsk Center for European Integration Yuri Shevtsov believes that for the Belarusian foreign policy a significant event happened. “To relocate an entire air regiment to Belarus in less than two years is very fast. And this reflects a high degree of military anxiety regarding NATO or individual NATO countries. Polish games of greatness have always ended badly for Poland,” explains the expert. And he adds: “It is unlikely that opposition to Polish activity regarding Belarus will be limited to one Russian air regiment. At a minimum, the saturation of the Belarusian army with new weapons and equipment will now proceed faster. And if it comes to the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus in the event of the collapse of the Budapest Memorandum system, then the militarization of the region will increase by orders of magnitude."

Of course, such activity on the part of official Minsk will inevitably affect eastern borders EU. Poland and Lithuania will begin to rapidly increase military spending. And if for Poland they are unlikely to become too much of an economic burden, then for Lithuania geopolitical changes will definitely mean additional problems in matters of withdrawing the country from economic crisis. Shevtsov also believes that Russia will increase pressure on Lithuania - both economic and informational. “The EU will not compensate Lithuania for these losses. There will still be no war between Russia and NATO, but the losses from the current Polish activity in the east could be quite serious for Lithuania,” the political scientist sums up.

Experts believe it is quite likely that the Belarusian threats will not be an empty shake of the air, and that the country will respond to the sanctions by withdrawing from the Budapest Memorandum. “The United States has actually already withdrawn from it. Recently there was a statement, it seems, from the US Embassy in Belarus that the United States does not consider this Memorandum as a document binding on them,” comments Shevtsov.

All this means that Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan may soon receive a legal basis to return to their nuclear status. And in the end, anyone, but Belarus, will definitely be able to count on the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons on its territory. Moreover, the Belarusian government already possesses approximately 2.5 tons of nuclear materials, some of which are highly enriched, sufficient, for example, to quickly manufacture a “dirty” atomic “bomb”.

In addition, “a number of threshold countries will receive an additional impetus to create nuclear weapons, because they will see the unreliability of security guarantees from the United States. Most likely, Iran will officially try to become the first of these countries,” Shevtsov describes the more distant consequences of these changes.

All this, undoubtedly, plays into Lukashenko’s hands. The author of the nuclear disarmament program for Belarus, Stanislav Shushkevich, says that “Lukashenko will soon begin to more actively blackmail the United States with a return to a nuclear status.” He will do this in order to achieve the lifting of economic sanctions from Belarus. And Old Man can return to him every time he doesn’t like something in the behavior of NATO member countries. Whether Lukashenko will get nuclear weapons, which he has long dreamed of, will depend only on Russia in the next few years.

The United States will obviously have to react to this somehow. An attempt to pacify the intractable Lukashenko could result in new conflicts for NATO member countries. What is especially unsafe against the backdrop of growing military power China and angry rhetoric towards the West from Russia.

Veteran rocket officers told a ZARYA.BY correspondent about the events of those years and their service in the Strategic Missile Forces.

Vladimir KORSAKOV, retired colonel, in the 90s chief engineer- Deputy commander for armaments of the 31st Missile Division:

There were 4 missile divisions stationed in Soviet Belarus. Until the end of the 80s, they were armed with R-12, R-14 and RSD-10 missiles. It was a huge power destructive force. For example, the RSD-10 missile of the Pioneer mobile ground missile system carried a multiple warhead with three warheads with a capacity of 150 kt each with individual guidance on its own targets.

One launcher solved the problems of a combined arms division during the Second World War. And there were eight of these in the missile regiment alone. With the power, accuracy, range of Soviet missile systems in the NATO leadership were forced to reckon, and as a result the West began negotiations with Soviet Union on the cessation of production of mobile SRCs and their complete elimination, which in itself was an indirect recognition of the military superiority of the USSR.

When the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles was signed between the USSR and the USA on December 8, 1987 in Washington. According to this document, missiles of these classes located on the territory of Belarus were subject to destruction. Very strict schedules were drawn up for their elimination. At the Lesnaya missile base from 1988 to 1991. 155 R-12 and R-14 missiles, 72 launchers, 60 warheads and 246 pieces of auxiliary equipment were eliminated. Instead of medium- and shorter-range missiles, the 32nd, 33rd and 49th missile divisions began to receive a new mobile ground complex "Topol", which had no equal in any of the most developed countries peace. It was armed with a three-stage solid propellant intercontinental ballistic missile, capable of hitting enemy targets right up to US territory, and created real threat NATO troops both in Western Europe and overseas.

The complex's missile can be launched from any point along the combat patrol route. Preparation time for the start is about two minutes. By 1991, the missile divisions near the cities of Lida, Mozyr and Postavy had the 81st such launcher. It seemed that global military parity had been achieved. But, as it later turned out, the most advanced Soviet weapons were often “quite by accident” included in the liquidated complexes, and new developments were frozen. The unrestrained multi-stage demilitarization of the USSR destroyed not only the arms race and the Iron Curtain, but also destroyed the military-industrial complex, which formed one of the foundations Soviet economy.

As a result of the collapse of the USSR, the number of nuclear powers increased, since at the time of the signing of the Belovezh Accords, Soviet nuclear weapons were stationed on the territory of four union republics: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Through diplomatic efforts, Russia and the United States ensured that Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan renounced their status as nuclear powers and transferred to Russia all the military atomic potential found on their territory. On August 13, 1993, the withdrawal of the Topol strategic missile systems from Belarus to Russia began.

Valentin POPOV, retired colonel, commander of repair and technical bases in the 90s:

I had to command repair and technical bases, which were special units for the operation of nuclear and thermonuclear ammunition. It was a very dangerous and responsible job, which was performed only by highly qualified specialists. Our task was to receive, transport, unload, transfer to the highest level of combat readiness, carry out regulations, store, carry out combat duty missions using missile warheads. The maintenance of ammunition warheads required special measures to comply with the temperature and humidity conditions in the structures where they were located.

It was a whole complex of events. Each operation during the operation of ammunition was performed by at least three people. A mistake by any serviceman could lead to serious, or even catastrophic consequences. After all, just one thermonuclear charge carried the power of hundreds of atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki!

Before working with the knots and the product itself, all performers wore special clothes and slippers with leather soles stitched with copper wire. This was necessary to remove static electricity on the ground loop, the resistance of which was systematically controlled. It was forbidden to work in non-cotton clothes, without head caps, or to have combs, rings, watches and other items that could become electrified or impale charge units and products.

Special security measures were taken during the liquidation launchers. We worked in winter, summer and in the heat, and in snow and rain, at night and during the day in any conditions, wearing rubberized protective equipment, rubber boots and gloves, and gas masks. The missiles were delivered to the nearest railway station from the regiment's deployment, the fuel components were drained from them, they were loaded with 8T26 cranes on the MoAZ-546 chassis into carriages that looked like mail cars, and they were taken to the Lesnaya missile base near Baranovichi, where the liquidation of the R-12 and R-14. RSD-10s were taken to the Kapustin Yar training ground, where they were destroyed by detonation or launch.

The combat units were transported to the loading site in compliance with even greater safety measures in specially equipped thermal insulation rooms, ensuring temperature regime and specified humidity in Ural car bodies. The drivers of these cars underwent special training. The warheads were loaded into isolated wagons and sent partly for processing to specialized plants, partly to a central storage base.

Yuri KUZNETSOV, reserve major, in the 90s, senior assistant to the head of the personnel department of the 32nd missile division:

Reduction, elimination of missiles, withdrawal of missile troops from Belarus is for many veterans tragic event. Imagine what it was like for the rocket officers, who spent hundreds of hours day and night on combat duty, draining fuel, cutting off rocket engine nozzles and cutting the tanks of their rockets.

And what was it like to be laid off in the prime of your life, to find yourself out of work, to lose your favorite job, to be uprooted from your acquired positions, or to literally start your life from scratch. But we coped with these difficulties, preserving the memory of battle path missile divisions of the Strategic Missile Forces group in Belarus.