Bolton: Russia May Be Serious About Belarus Nukes

Russian President Vladimir Putin "may not be bluffing" about his threat to move nuclear weapons into neighboring Belarus, former national security adviser John Bolton said Monday.

Putin's blustery threat has been condemned by the United States and NATO, with Ukraine likening it to taking "Belarus as a nuclear hostage."

"I think he's been bluffing when he's tried to rattle the nuclear saber before," Bolton told CNN, The Hill reported. "He may not be bluffing here in the sense he may actually move tactical nuclear weapons into Belarus, which is its own separate problem.

"But militarily, even if he did that, it really wouldn't make that much difference in my view, because of what we know are extensive nuclear supplies, missiles, cruise missiles, drones, and warheads, in Kaliningrad, an exclave, a piece of Russia that's separated from Russia itself by Lithuania and Poland."

Bolton added: "That's a place which has long been basically a Russian military facility going back to Soviet Union days. So the capabilities Russia already has in the Kaliningrad enclave are the ones that could be most threatening. I don't think the idea of moving some tactical nuclear weapons into Belarus changes that balance." 

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