Petition for the Withdrawal of Nuclear Weapons from Belarus and the Restoration of Its Non-Nuclear Status

The deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus represents a dangerous escalation of military tensions in Europe and a direct threat to international security. Belarus voluntarily renounced nuclear weapons in the 1990s, acceded to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as a non-nuclear-weapon state, and ensured the complete removal of all nuclear warheads from its territory. This was a historic contribution to international disarmament and regional stability.

Belarus’s non-nuclear status was codified in its Constitution, including Article 18, which defined the country as a neutral and nuclear-free state. The subsequent removal of this provision after the falsified constitutional referendum of 27 February 2022 undermined both the will of the Belarusian people and Belarus’s prior international commitments.

The return of Russian nuclear weapons to Belarusian territory damages trust in the very idea of voluntary nuclear disarmament. If a state that renounced nuclear arms in the interest of global security can later be used as a platform for their redeployment, one of the key pillars of the non-proliferation regime is put at risk.

This danger is especially acute for Belarus, a country that has already suffered profoundly from the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. The deployment of nuclear weapons in a region marked by that catastrophe is reckless and inhumane. Belarus must remain a peaceful and non-nuclear country.