Lukashenko will deliver Belarus’ State of the Nation address as the country is increasingly drawn into the Russian invasion of Ukraine – Photo: Pavel Orlovsky/BelTA Pool Photo via AP

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko will deliver his State of the Nation Address to the public and the National Assembly today.

Lukashenko will discuss the nation’s development strategy amid the rapidly changing geopolitical environment. The address comes after Belarus recently announced it would host Russian tactical nuclear weapons to counter NATO. The decision is one of the toughest nuclear signals to the West since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year. Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to start the training of Belarusian aircrews in early April to pilot aircraft carrying nuclear bombs and would likely finish storage facilities for nuclear weapons by July 1.

Kyiv reacted to the decision by calling for an emergency meeting of the United Nation Security Council, to discuss in what ways Western allies can help counteract the Kremlin’s actions.

Though Lukashenko defended his decision and said that Belarus felt compelled to fortify its own security and defense capabilities, anti-nuclear campaigners have warned that the step will lower the threshold for the use of tactical short-range battlefield nuclear weapons and is inessential from a military viewpoint. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Lukashenko’s former political opponent, criticized the president for being an accomplice to Russia but anticipates that the likelihood of the Belarusian army entering the full-scare war with Ukraine is minimal.