Russia to send Belarus nuclear-capable missiles within months, as G7 leaders gather in Germany

Russia will deliver missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads to Belarus in the coming months, President Vladimir Putin has said as he received Belarusian leader Alexandrine lukashenko

“In the coming months, we will transfer to Belarus Iskander-M tactical missile systems, which can use ballistic or cruise missiles, in their conventional and nuclear versions,” Putin said in a broadcast on Russian television at the start of his meeting with Lukashenko in St Petersburg on Saturday.

Putin has several times referred to nuclear weapons since his country launched a military operation in Ukraine on 24 February, in what the west has seen as a warning to intervene. Lukashenko said last month that his country had bought Iskander nuclear-capable missiles and S-400 anti-aircraft anti-missile systems from Russia.

The G7 leaders are expected to seek to show a united front on supporting Ukraine  for as long as necessary and cranking up pressure on the Kremlin – although they will want to avoid sanctions that could stoke inflation and exacerbate the global cost-of-living crisis.

“The main message from the G7 will be unity and coordination of action … That’s the main message, that even through difficult times … we stick to our alliance,” an EU official said.

The G7 partners are set to agree to ban imports of gold from Russia a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. A German government source later said that leaders were having “really constructive” conversations on a possible price cap on Russian oil imports.

This year, Scholz invited as partner countries Senegal, the current chair of the African Union, Argentina, which heads the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, Indonesia and India, the present and next hosts of the G20 group of large industrial nations, and South Africa.

“The summit must send not only the message that Nato and the G7 are more united than ever, but also that the democracies of the world stand together against Putin’s imperialism just as they do in the fight against hunger and poverty,” Scholz told the German parliament this week.