By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON (AA) - The US has not seen any indication that Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday.
Blinken said the US will "continue to monitor the situation very closely and very carefully," but currently has "no reason to adjust our own nuclear posture."
"We don't see any indications that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon. The president said again this week that we remain committed to the defense of NATO, every inch of its territory, so that is our North Star," Blinken said while hosting his Singaporean counterpart at the State Department.
"As for Belarus itself, this is just another example of (Belarusian President Aleksandr) Lukaskehnko making irresponsible, provocative choices to cede control of Belarus's sovereignty against the will of the Belarusian people," he added.
Putin earlier on Friday announced that his forces successfully transferred the first batch of Russian nuclear weapons to Belarusian territory amid heightened tensions with NATO over the Kremlin's war in Ukraine.
"The first nuclear charges were delivered to the territory of Belarus. But only the first," Putin said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, according to Bloomberg News. "This is the first part. But by the end of the summer, by the end of the year, we will complete this work.”
Lukashenko said Tuesday the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus was a “necessary” decision so that “not a single foreign soldier sets foot on Belarusian land again," noting that it was his “urgent demand” to Moscow to guarantee his country's security.
The bombs are three times more powerful than those used by the US in 1945 on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he said.
Earlier this year, Putin announced that Russia will deploy tactical nuclear weapons and complete the construction of a special storage facility for them in neighboring Belarus.