Belarus
Country Spotlight
Belarus gained independence following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union and inherited a nuclear weapons infrastructure. It transferred all remaining nuclear weapons to Russia by 1996. Today, Belarus is a close ally of Russia and participated in Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. In February 2022, Belarus amended its constitution to allow Russia to deploy nuclear weapons on Belarussian territory.
See Belarus' performance in
Region Former Soviet Union
Article 18 Until 2022, enshrined Belarus's non-nuclear weapon status
1992 Transferred all Soviet chemical weapons back to Russia
2 Nuclear power reactors in operation
Nuclear
- Russia reportedly deployed tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus in June 2023
- In August 2022, announced upgrades to its Su-25 fighter aircraft to carry nuclear weapons
- Possesses 230 kg of highly-enriched uranium (HEU); talks to repatriate HEU to Russia collapsed in 2011
Nuclear Disarmament Belarus
Biological
- Has never possessed an offensive biological weapons program
- Ratified the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in 1975
Tutorial on Biological Weapons Nonproliferation
Belarus Overview
Missile
- Did not inherit any major missile production or design facilities from the Soviet Union
- Collaborates with Russia on missile design, production, and defense
- In June 2022, Russia stated it would transfer Iskander-M nuclear-capable missile systems to Belarus
Tutorial on Missiles and Other WMD Delivery Systems
The CNS Global Missile Defense Engagements Database
Chemical
- Has not attempted to restart a chemical weapons program since the removal of Soviet chemical weapons in the 1990s
- Ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 1996
Tutorial on Chemical Weapons Nonproliferation
NTI Tutorials
Treaties and Regimes Memberships
- NTI
- CNS
Young Voices in International Security: Mackenzie Knight
Jupiter Huang, NTI’s Communications intern, had the opportunity to speak with Mackenzie Knight, the program associate for Global Risk at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), for this inaugural post of the Young Voices series.
A Conversation with Ambassador Laura Holgate on the Future of Nuclear Security
Virtual NTI Seminar
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11AM EDT
Time to Change Course on Nuclear Security
Education Center