Belarus leader warns of nuclear apocalypse if Russia pushed too far

Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko has warned of a nuclear apocalypse if Russia continues to be pressured by the West, in an address in Minsk on Thursday reported by Belarusian media.

"One careless word, one movement could cause armed conflict up to the use of nuclear weapons," Lukashenko, a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, told the All Belarusian People's Assembly.

The country's highest constitutional body is to pass a new security doctrine that describes the expansion of NATO into formerly communist Eastern Europe as a danger to peace. Moscow takes a similar view.

Lukashenko warned that in the event of an increase in domestic tension in Russia, Moscow could use its entire arsenal. "That will be the apocalypse," Lukashenko, whose 2020 re-election has not been accepted by the United States or the European Union, said.

The conflict in Ukraine, Belarus's southern neighbour, posed the greatest threat to national security, Lukashenko said. He accused the West of trying to draw Belarus into the conflict.

While Belarus has not intervened directly since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, its territory has been used as a deployment zone for Russian forces. Moscow has also stationed tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

Lukashenko warned that Moscow would not withdraw. "The Russians will not disappear from Crimea or from the eastern regions," he said.

That meant that the time had come for talks. If Ukraine is to survive as a state, Moscow and the West should agree on a draw, he said.

Ukrainian leaders have insisted that the war will continue until Russian forces withdraw from all Ukrainian territory, including the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed by Moscow in 2014.