events of the night of March 26 — EADaily, March 26, 2023 — Politics News, Russia News

Russia, at the request of the Belarusian side, will deploy its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, just as the United States has long been doing this on the territory of its allied countries. The President of the Russian Federation announced this on Saturday Vladimir Putin on the air of the TV channel “Russia-24”. “Even outside the context of these events, this statement (about the possible supply of depleted uranium ammunition by Britain to Ukraine) Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko has long raised the question of deploying Russian tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus,” Putin said. “The United States has been doing this for decades. They have long placed their tactical nuclear weapons on the territories of their allied countries, NATO countries, in Europe. In six states – this is the Federal Republic of Germany, Turkey, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Greece – well, not in Greece now, but there is a storage facility, ”said the Russian president. “We have already helped our Belarusian colleagues to re-equip their planes. 10 aircraft are ready to use this type of weapon. We have already handed over to Belarus our well-known, very effective Iskander complex, it can also be a carrier [тактического ядерного оружия]. Starting from April 3, we will start training crews and on July 1 we will complete the construction of a special storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus,” the head of state said.

Against the backdrop of Russia’s plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, the Pentagon said that there were no reasons to change the readiness of US nuclear forces. “We have seen reports of a Russian announcement (about the deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus) … We have not seen any reason to change the readiness of our nuclear forces, nor signs that Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons,” the Pentagon said in a statement quoted by Reuters. . According to the agency, the White House expressed the same opinion.

Kyiv expects Europe to strengthen sanctions against Moscow after the decision of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus and asks for more weapons to carry out a counteroffensive. This was stated by the adviser to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine Mikhail Podolyak on Sunday on the air of the French TV channel LCI. “It is necessary to increase the military potential of Ukraine for a counteroffensive and strengthen sanctions against Russia,” he said, calling also for sanctions against Rosatom in response to the decision of the Russian leadership. Podolyak said that in Kyiv, Paris is expected to have “a leading role, responsibility, decisiveness and making a historic choice.” “Russia is attacking us with drones, ballistic missiles that we cannot intercept. Aviation is used against us, including one that could be equipped with tactical nuclear weapons, and we can only respond if we have the same capabilities in the field of aviation. It would be very desirable for France to lead by example in this regard,” he said.

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi will visit Zaporizhia NPP next week to check the level of safety at the plant and point out the need to protect it in the face of hostilities. This is stated in a message released on Saturday by the IAEA. “I decided to visit ZNPP again to personally check how the situation has changed since September (since Grossi’s last visit to ZNPP on September 1, 2022), and to talk with those who work at the plant in this unprecedented and very difficult situation,” in a statement, the words of the head of the agency. The upcoming visit also aims to ensure that the regular rotation of IAEA experts at the station is maintained and improved after the previous rotation, which was delayed by almost a month, Grossi said.

Berlin is about to expel more than 30 Russian diplomats over suspicions of allegedly recruiting for the purpose of further espionage, Focus reported on March 25. According to journalists, diplomats were looking for sources of information in Germany in various fields: politics, economics, armed forces, and so on. At the same time, a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry indicated that the head of the German Foreign Ministry Annalen Burbock spy mania and Moscow has already prepared a tough response to such steps of Berlin. In January, the former Polish ambassador to Russia Katarzyna Pielchynska-Nalencz stated that in an ideal situation, the countries of the European Union and the United States should “expel” all Russian ambassadors from the territory of their states. In the same month, Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu also called on EU countries to think about expelling even more Russian diplomats.

Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalyn stated that he expects the General Assembly of the Grand National Assembly (Parliament) of Turkey to adopt a protocol on the ratification of Finland’s membership in NATO, Ankara has no problems with Helsinki. The Foreign Policy Commission of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (Parliament) considered on Thursday the ratification of the protocol on Finland’s membership in NATO, adopted it and will submit it to the General Assembly for consideration, TRT Haber TV channel reported. “Our commission on foreign policy issues has adopted a protocol. We expect that the General Assembly will also accept it. We have no problems with Finland in this process (in the process of NATO membership),” Kalyn said in an interview with NTV.

The confiscation of Russian assets in Western countries is a threat to the global economy. This opinion was expressed in an article for The New York Times by Patricia Cohen, a journalist for the publication. The author, in particular, refers to the arguments of several representatives of the American authorities, including US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, that the confiscation of assets could create a precedent for violating Western legal foundations. “Ms. Yellen and others have pointed out that the confiscation of Russian assets could undermine confidence in the dollar, the most widely used currency in global trade and money transfers. Foreign countries may be less willing to keep money in US banks or invest because they fear their assets could be confiscated. However, experts are concerned that such actions [конфискация активов] will increase the risk of seizing US and European assets abroad in the event that an international dispute arises,” Cohen points out.

Some 630,000 protesters against judicial reform took to the streets across Israel on Saturday, the Times of Israel reported, citing protest organizers. “Organizers of protests against judicial reform claim that about 630,000 people took part in nationwide demonstrations this evening,” the newspaper said. According to the organizers, about 300 thousand people took part in demonstrations in Tel Aviv. Earlier, the publication reported that hundreds of thousands of people across Israel took to the streets to protest against judicial reform. Israelis oppose prime minister’s government-led Benjamin Netanyahu judicial reform for the twelfth week in a row.