MOSCOW—President Vladimir Putin on Friday accused NATO member Poland of having territorial ambitions in the former Soviet Union, and said any aggression against Russia’s neighbour and close ally Belarus would be considered an attack on Russia. Moscow would react to any aggression against Belarus, which forms a “Union State” with Russia, “with all the means…

MOSCOW—Russia’s mutinous mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was shown in a video on Wednesday welcoming his fighters to Belarus, telling them they would take no further part in the Ukraine war for now but ordering them to gather their strength for Africa. The footage, reposted by his press service on Telegram, is the first video evidence…

MINSK—The mutinous head of Russia’s Wagner group is no longer in Belarus and it is not clear if his fighters will move there, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday. Mr. Lukashenko said on June 27 that Yevgeny Prigozhin had arrived in Belarus as part of the deal that defused the crisis, which had seen…

Commentary The nuclear posture of Russia, Eastern Europe, and the world is becoming less stable by the day. For starters, Russia has confirmed that it has moved tactical nuclear weapons into neighboring Belarus. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the weapons would be used only if the Russian state or territory were threatened. That criterion…

Russian President Vladimir Putin planned to kill mutinous Wagner fighters marching on Moscow before being talked down, according to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. It is unclear how Putin planned to carry out his plan, but Lukashenko said during a June 27 meeting with military officials that the decision had been made to kill all the…

Belarus—which played a critical role in ending last week’s aborted mutiny against the Kremlin by the leader of Russia’s Wagner Group—has returned to the spotlight.   A key Russian ally, the country made headlines earlier this year when Moscow unveiled plans to station tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian soil.  On June 27, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko…

MOSCOW—Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he persuaded Russian President Vladimir Putin not to “wipe out” mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, in response to what the Kremlin cast as a mutiny. Putin initially vowed to crush the mutiny, comparing it to the wartime turmoil that ushered in the revolution of 1917 and then a civil war, but…

President Joe Biden warned this week that the threat of Russian President Vladimir Putin using tactical nuclear weapons is “real,” days after Moscow announced that the first warheads have arrived in Belarus amid international condemnation of the move. “When I was out here about two years ago saying I worried about the Colorado River drying…

Commentary In Vladimir Putin’s latest act of desperation, he has again threatened the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and by extension, the United States as its lead member, with nuclear weapons. The U.S. nuclear umbrella covers all NATO nations, so a nuclear threat against NATO is a nuclear threat against the United States. On June 16,…

LONDON—Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday that Russian tactical nuclear weapons would be physically deployed on the territory of Belarus “in several days” and that he had the facilities to host longer-range missiles too if ever needed. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia, which will retain control of the tactical nuclear…