On Friday, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Interfax that Russia would not inform the U.S. about its nuclear weapons in Belarus or Poseidon torpedo testing.
As tensions with the West rise over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Moscow and Minsk say Belarus has begun receiving the Russian tactical, or short-range, nuclear weapons President Vladimir Putin had openly promised to install there.
“I deeply doubt that this topic will become the subject of any public discussion or disclosure on our part,” Ryabkov told Sochi media.
“For decades, the United States has kept its tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of several European countries, and it never gives exact numbers.”
The last U.S.-Russia arms limitation deal, the New Start, does not cover short-range weapons. Putin has banned Russia’s involvement, but all sides have vowed to observe its boundaries.
No treaty or verification mechanism exists for nuclear-capable and nuclear-powered autonomous torpedoes like Poseidon. Thus, Ryabkov stated Russia would not alert the U.S. about tests.
According to U.S. and Russian authorities, Poseidon, a hybrid torpedo and underwater drone, can cause radioactive ocean swells to strike naval battle groups or make coastal communities uninhabitable.
In January, TASS announced that Russia had developed the first Poseidon torpedoes for the Belgorod nuclear-powered submarine.
TASS reported in April that Russia might build a Pacific Fleet division of special-purpose submarines with Poseidon torpedoes by 2024 or 2025.
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