Belarus Units Complete Training on Russian Tactical Nuclear Missile Systems

Russian Iskander-E missile launcher operates during International Military and Technical Forum 2022 in Alabino outside Moscow, Russia August 17, 2022. (Reuters)
Russian Iskander-E missile launcher operates during International Military and Technical Forum 2022 in Alabino outside Moscow, Russia August 17, 2022. (Reuters)
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Belarus Units Complete Training on Russian Tactical Nuclear Missile Systems

Russian Iskander-E missile launcher operates during International Military and Technical Forum 2022 in Alabino outside Moscow, Russia August 17, 2022. (Reuters)
Russian Iskander-E missile launcher operates during International Military and Technical Forum 2022 in Alabino outside Moscow, Russia August 17, 2022. (Reuters)

Units from Belarus returned home from Russia on Saturday after training on how to use the Iskander tactical missile system to launch nuclear weapons, the Belarusian defense ministry said.

It made the announcement exactly four weeks after President Vladimir Putin said Russia would station tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus, sending a warning to NATO over its military support for Ukraine.

In early February, Belarus said its armed forces were in autonomous control of Iskander mobile guided missile systems that Russia had already provided.

But when the units were sent to Russia on April 4 for additional training, Minsk made clear their sessions would include study of "the maintenance and use of tactical nuclear warheads of the Iskander missile defense system".

Those units returned to Belarus on Saturday, the defense ministry said on Telegram.

Russia has not given a clear timetable for moving tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, but Putin said the construction of storage facilities should be complete by the start of July.

It will be the first deployment of part of Russia's nuclear arsenal outside its borders since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.



Trump Says 'on the Same Side of Every Issue' with Netanyahu After Call

US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Netanyahu departs the White House in Washington, DC, on April 7, 2025. (AFP)
US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Netanyahu departs the White House in Washington, DC, on April 7, 2025. (AFP)
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Trump Says 'on the Same Side of Every Issue' with Netanyahu After Call

US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Netanyahu departs the White House in Washington, DC, on April 7, 2025. (AFP)
US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Netanyahu departs the White House in Washington, DC, on April 7, 2025. (AFP)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Trump spoke by phone, two weeks after the two met in Washington.

Trump wrote on his social networking site Truth Social that the two spoke about trade and Iran, among other issues.

“The call went very well—We are on the same side of every issue,” he wrote.

Netanyahu's office did not have an immediate comment, but his hastily-arranged visit to Washington was not deemed a rousing success after he appeared to fail to secure the support he wanted from Trump on issues such as stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons, reducing Trump's tariffs, the influence of Türkiye and the war in Gaza.