Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Sheikh Qassem: Our supporters make up more than half of Lebanon's population, and all of these people are united under the banner of protecting Lebanon, its Resistance, its people, and its integrity.
Sheikh Qassem: There will be no phased handing in of our arms. [The Israelis] must first enact the agreement before we start talking about a defensive strategy.
Sheikh Qassem: Be brave in the face of foreign pressures, and we will be by your side in this stance.
Sheikh Qassem: Stripping us of our arms is like stripping us of our very soul, and this will prompt us to show them our might.
Sheikh Qassem: We will not abandon our arms, for they gave us dignity; we will not abandon our arms, for they protect us against our enemy.
Sheikh Qassem: The US efforts we are seeing are aimed at sabotaging Lebanon and constitute a call for sedition.
Sheikh Qassem: If you truly want to establish sovereignty and work for Lebanon’s interests, then stop the aggression.
Sheikh Qassem: The United States, which is meddling in Lebanon, is not trustworthy but rather poses a danger to it.
Sheikh Qassem: The United States is preventing the weapons that protect the homeland.
Sheikh Qassem: The government’s latest decision [on the disarmament of the Resistance] is non-charter-based, and if the government continues down this path, it is not faithful to Lebanon’s sovereignty.

Putin on West attempts to lower Russia's nuclear arsenal: 'S**** them'

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 17 Jun 2023 09:31
4 Min Read

Russia's president says that the first batch of nuclear weapons to Belarus has already been sent and their full deployment will be completed this year.

  • x
  • Putin on West attempts to lower Russia's nuclear arsenal: 'Screw them'
    Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday, June 16, 2023. (AFP)

Russian nuclear weapons deployed in Belarus are of deterrent nature for those oblivious in the West who assume they can inflict on Russia a strategic defeat, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday in an address at the economic forum in St. Petersburg.

"As you know we were negotiating with our ally, Belarusian President [Alexander] Lukashenko, that we would move a part of these tactical nuclear weapons to the territory of Belarus - this has happened," he said.

"The first nuclear warheads were delivered to the territory of Belarus. But only the first ones, the first part. But we will do this job completely by the end of the summer or by the end of the year," Putin revealed, adding that in the current circumstances, Moscow does not see the need to use these weapons.

Read more: Russia and Belarus define non-strategic nuclear arms procedure

"...It is precisely as an element of deterrence so that all those who are thinking about inflicting a strategic defeat on us are not oblivious to this circumstance."

Earlier this week, Lukashenko said that Moscow already started transferring nuclear warheads to his country, including some that are three times more powerful than the nuclear weapons dropped by the US on Japan's Hiroshima in 1945.

The delivery of tactical nuclear weapons to Russia's neighboring ally was announced by Putin back in March, when he explained that this move will be similar to the United States' deployment of some of its nuclear arsenal in Europe, further noting that Russia's action does not violate the nuclear nonproliferation agreements NPT.

However, the atomic bombs will remain under Moscow's control, Russia's leader confirmed.

Nuclear weapons to ensure security

Russia's nuclear posture has not changed, Putin continued, and nuclear weapons will only be used if the Russian Federation was under direct existential threat.

Related News

Europe's Trump concessions risk democracy, trade losses: FT op-ed

Declassified papers reveal Clinton floated Russian NATO membership

Kiev's Western allies, who play a key role in arming Ukraine, criticized this step, but Washington said that there are no indications that Putin has plans to use them.

"Nuclear weapons have been made to ensure our security in the broadest sense of the word and the existence of the Russian state, but we...have no such need [to use them]," Putin said.

"Just talking about this (the potential use of nuclear weapons) lowers the nuclear threshold. We have more than NATO countries and they want to reduce our numbers. Sc*** them," Putin said.

On the war in Ukraine, the president said that the Ukrainian counteroffensive has failed so far, pointing out that Kiev has suffered heavy losses and stands no chance against the Russian army.

Moreover, according to Putin, Ukraine's local military arsenal would soon be depleted and will make the country rely completely on foreign hardware - a condition that would affect Kiev's ability to fight for long.

"As for demilitarisation, soon Ukraine will stop using its own equipment altogether. There's nothing left. Everything on which they fight and everything that they use is brought in from the outside. Well, you can't fight like that for long."

Up in flames

The Wall Street Journal had earlier reported on Friday that Ukraine's ambitious counteroffensive against Russia - which it launched in a bid to take the lands captured by the country through the war effort - is proving to be quite a difficult task, 

After Ukraine's first attacks yielded mixed results, most of the war efforts on the counteroffensive fronts have been halted, as army commanders are revising previous plans that proved to fail in breaking Russia's defensive lines without suffering heavy losses, the newspaper said.

But so far, the majority of the Ukrainian offensive brigades, equipped with powerful Western tanks, have not yet joined the fight, the report argued.

Putin said that if Kiev receives F-16 fighter jets from the West, they will end up being destroyed just like the German-made Leopard battle tanks.

"F-16s will also be burning, there is no doubt. But if they will be stationed outside Ukraine and used in combat operations we will have to look at how to engage and where to engage those assets being used in combat operations against us."

This would "seriously" risk dragging NATO deeper into the conflict, he concluded.

  • Nato
  • Russia
  • Alexander Lukashenko
  • US
  • nuclear weapons
  • war in Ukraine
  • Ukraine
  • Belarus
  • Vladimir Putin
Russia & NATO

Russia & NATO

As the Draconian Western-led sanctions on Russia exacerbate the economic crisis worldwide, and as Russian troops gain more ground despite the influx of military aid into Ukraine, exposing US direct involvement in bio-labs spread across Eastern Europe and the insurgence of neo-Nazi groups… How will things unfold?

Most Read

Tom Artiom Alexandrovich, executive director of the defense division of the Israeli National Cyber Directorate, undated (Social media)

Israeli-born US prosecutor drops Israeli officer child sex crime

  • Politics
  • 19 Aug 2025
Almost instantly after the Helsinki Accords were signed, organisations sprouted to document purported violations, whose findings were fed to overseas embassies for international amplification. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab el-Hajj)

How ‘Human Rights’ became a Western weapon

  • Opinion
  • 23 Aug 2025
Israeli soldiers stand on the top of armoured vehicles parked on an area near the Israeli-Gaza border, as seen from southern Israel, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025 (AP)

Palestinian fighters target Israeli soldiers, vehicles in Gaza

  • Politics
  • 21 Aug 2025
Launch of a ballistic missile from Yemen toward the occupied Palestinian territories. (YAF military media)

Yemeni Forces announce firing hypersonic missile at Al-Lydd Airport

  • Politics
  • 22 Aug 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference at the Prime minister's office in al-Quds, Occupied Palestine, Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Netanyahu deliberately derailing truce with Gaza occupation: Hamas

Irish President Michael Higgins arrives to deliver his speech during a 42nd World Food Day celebration at FAO headquarters in Rome, on Oct. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Politics

Irish president renews call for UN military intervention in Gaza

US Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the US Embassy in Aukar, northern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, July 21, 2025 (AP)
Politics

US envoy, Netanyahu discuss restraining attacks on Lebanon, withdrawal

Smoke billows following Israeli airstrikes in multiple areas in Sanaa, Yemen, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Ansar Allah vow sustained Gaza support despite Israeli strikes

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS