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As NATO’s annual nuclear readiness exercise ‘Steadfast Noon’ proceeds in the Netherlands, an exiled human rights group from Belarus and a peace group in the UK are challenging the arrangements which permit the ‘hosting’ in both of these nations of nuclear weapons from third-party superpowers.
‘Steadfast Noon’ involves NATO pilots flying simulated strike missions in nuclear-capable planes in response to a supposed Russian nuclear attack. Russia, with Belarussian support, conducts Zapad exercises with the roles reversed with NATO being the aggressor. These exercises demonstrate that both sides contemplate the possibility of using forward-based air-launched weapons to conduct ‘tactical’ nuclear strikes against military targets on a future European battlefield.
Russia has stockpiled nuclear weapons in Belarus for employment by that nation’s armed forces. The US also has long-established nuclear stockpiles in, and similar access agreements with, Belgium, Germany, Italy the Netherlands and Turkey, and in June Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that Britain will acquire nuclear capable F35s from the United States and access to US made weapons for use upon them.
In all of these cases, the nuclear superpower retains control of the nuclear weapons until such time as war breaks out when they are issued to the host nation for use on their ‘delivery system’, whether it be a warplane or missile.
Yet all of these nations are acting in contravention of their obligations as signatories to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. This seeks to prevent ‘proliferation’ by preventing the direct or indirect transfer between states of nuclear weapons or the equipment, materials and knowledge necessary to develop them, with parties being obliged neither to facilitate such transfers, nor seek or accept them. The intention is to prevent more nations from going nuclear.
Russia and the United States should not be transferring nuclear weapons, even at a future point in time of war. Both nations argue that under ‘hosting’ arrangements they retain control of the warheads so there is no breach, and that in any case transfer would only occur in times of war whereupon the Treaty would be moot. To detractors this seems like sophistry adopted by mendacious superpowers seeking to dodge their solemn international obligations.
More concerningly, the existence of these arrangements exacerbates already febrile international tensions with a fierce war being waged in Ukraine, raising the possibility of escalation to a point where a ‘tactical’ nuclear exchange might take place on some European battlefield in the not-to-distant future. Furthermore, military exercises involving the simulated release of nuclear weapons might lead the opposing side, fearing these are a front for an actual attack, to use its weapons for real.
Now the peace group ‘Our House’, in exile in Lithuania, has issued a manifesto condemning the Belarusian Government of President Alexander Lukashenko for renouncing a previous constitutional commitment to remain neutral and nuclear weapon free and instead establishing a nuclear weapons partnership with Moscow. ‘Our House’ considers these actions to be ‘a profound strategic and moral mistake’.
In May 2023, Belarusian Defence Minister Viktor Khrenin and his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu signed an agreement to transfer Russian nuclear weapons to Belarus. By June, movements of Russian weapons onto Belarusian territory had begun. The size of the Russian stockpile is unknown, but it comprises two component parts – warheads yielding between 5 and 50 kilotons (equivalent to 5,000 to 50,000 tons of TNT) for fitting to Belarussian Iskander-M short-range nuclear missiles and free-fall nuclear bombs with a yield of 15 to 20 kilotons for use on Belarusian SU-25 and SU-30 fighter bombers. In May 2024, readiness exercises were conducted, and President Lukashenko has stated that he was ready to use these nuclear weapons “without hesitation in case of aggression against Belarus.”
Now the campaigning NGO ‘Our House’ has just launched its ‘Stop BY Nukes’ campaign calling on the Belarusian Government to reinstate its nuclear-free status, rip up the hosting agreement with Russia, expel Russian nuclear weapons from its territory, sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and resume its leading diplomatic role in seeking a European Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone.
In 2024, US Government documents revealed that finance was being made available to develop a new vault for air-launched B61-12 nuclear bombs at RAF Lakenheath, the largest airbase operated by the US Air Force in the UK. In July 2025, shipments of these weapons were observed from the USA to the airbase. The bombs are intended for deployment on the nuclear-capable F35A fighter bombers based there.
In a related but unwanted development, at the June 2025 NATO Hague summit, British Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer announced that the UK would purchase twelve nuclear-capable F-35As from the United States by 2029. The British F35As will be based at RAF Marham, about twenty miles from Lakenheath, so it is assumed that a similar hosting arrangement would be established with the UK to make B61-12 bombs available from the Lakenheath stockpile for fitting on these British-flown aircraft. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has estimated that each of these bombs could kill up to 600,000 people with explosive yields pre-programmable between 0.3 and 170 kilotons (equivalent to 300 to 170,000 tons of TNT).
Readers, when considering the yields of the Russian and US ‘tactical’ warheads please be aware that the Hiroshima bomb had a yield estimated at 15 KTs (15,000 tons of TNT) and that the Trident warhead carried by British nuclear armed submarines is 100 KT (100,000 tons of TNT).
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has sourced a recent legal opinion that the United Kingdom in acquiring nuclear capable aircraft and access to nuclear weapons from the United States will, as an acknowledged nuclear weapon power, contravene its additional commitment under Article VI of the NPT to work ‘in good faith’ to achieve ‘at an early date’ nuclear disarmament.
Now CND has drafted a letter to the Prime Minister urging him to cancel these crazy plans to acquire yet more costly nuclear weapons for the nation and to instead invest these funds in ‘tackling the underlying causes threatening our human security’.
The NFLAs are a member of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons; as such we are opposed to nuclear weapons, nuclear proliferation and nuclear ‘hosting’. Instead we support the aspiration for nuclear disarmament, a nuclear weapon free zone in Europe, and a peaceful world.
As such we have advised ‘Our House’ of our support for their manifesto and the Chair, Councillor Lawrence O’Neill, and Secretary, Richard Outram, on behalf of the NFLAs have signed the CND letter to Prime Minister Starmer.
We are asking other UK based peace groups to read the ‘Our House’ statement (see Appendix 1) and signify their support for its aspirations by emailing appeal co-ordinator Olga Karatch at olga.karatch@gmail.com. Olga is also happy to be invited to be a speaker on webinars.
Activists and campaign groups are also urged to endorse the draft letter to the Prime Minister (Appendix 2) by emailing their clear support to CND Campaigns Director Sara Medi-Jones at Sara.Medi.Jones@cnduk.org by 5pm, 20th October.
Ends://..For more information please email NFLA Secretary Richard Outram at richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk
Appendix 1 – The statement issued by Our House:
International Centre for Civil Initiatives “Our House”
Public charitable and human rights protection non-profit entity
Code: 303223926
Šaltūnų St. 22
LT-04132 Vilnius
Vilnius City Municipality Lithuania
Tel. +370 607 65718
E-mail: olga@ndbelarus.com
Stop BY Nukes Campaign
IntroductionBelarus was once a symbol of nuclear disarmament and peace: after the dissolution of the USSR, it became the first state to voluntarily renounce and remove all nuclear weapons from its territory, joining the Budapest Memorandum of 1994 and declaring itself a nuclear-free zone.
On 27 February 2022, this status was reversed through illegal constitutional changes—an act we consider a profound strategic and moral mistake.
As part of the Belarusian people and civil society, Our House acknowledges our historical responsibility toward our neighbours for preventing the creation of a new nuclear trigger in an already war-torn region. For this reason, we are launching the campaign “Stop BY Nukes” to restore Belarus’s nuclear-free status and to anchor this commitment in international law by calling for Belarus’s accession to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
Belarus should reinforce its nuclear-free identity not only by political declarations but through binding international law—sending to all European nations a message of reason, restraint, and de-escalation from within Belarusian civil society.
Core Demands of the Stop BY Nukes Campaign:
- Withdraw Russian nuclear weapons from the territory of Belarus
- Immediately return all nuclear warheads and delivery systems from Belarus to Russia.
- Immediately revoke the so-called “nuclear sharing” agreement between Minsk and Moscow.
- Restore Belarus’s status as a nuclear-free state
- Reintroduce into the Constitution the article declaring Belarus a neutral and nuclear-free country.
- Reaffirm Belarus’s commitments under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
- Join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and implement it domestically
- Accede to and ratify the TPNW to legally anchor Belarus’s nuclear-free status,
complementing NPT obligations.
- Adopt comprehensive national measures prohibiting development,
possession, stationing, transfer, assistance, or threat of use of nuclear
weapons on Belarusian territory; report on implementation to the UN as
required.
- End all military exercises involving nuclear components and nuclear threats
- Immediately halt all training or simulation of nuclear weapons use.
- Recognize the “Zapad-2025” exercises as a strategic mistake that endangers the security of the entire region.
- Officially declare that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.”
- Eliminate any rhetoric threatening neighbouring states with the “immediate” or “unhesitating” use of tactical nuclear weapons.
- Support international initiatives aimed at preventing nuclear war
- Join China’s initiative for a joint pledge by the five nuclear-weapon states never to be the first to use nuclear weapons (no-first-use).
- Revive Belarus’s earlier proposal to establish a European Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone.
- Reject reliance on nuclear deterrence in favour of cooperative security mechanisms and diplomacy.
- Fully comply with the UN Charter and recognize the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice as a means of peaceful dispute resolution.
- End repression against those opposing militarization and nuclear weapons
- Stop dismissals, detentions, and criminal prosecutions targeting anti-nuclear and anti-war activists, peace advocates, and peacebuilders.
- Guarantee freedom of expression and peaceful assembly on issues related to peace and nuclear policy.
- Ensure full transparency in Belarus’s nuclear policy
- Provide open and regular information to the public and the international community on all matters related to the deployment of nuclear weapons.
- Allow independent monitoring and international inspections of Russian tactical nuclear weapons stationed in Belarus.
These demands build upon recommendations jointly submitted by Our House and partner organizations to the UN Human Rights Council for the Universal Periodic Review of Belarus (2025).
Appendix 2 – The draft letter to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer:
