Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, the closest ally to Vladimir Putin to date, released a video on December 30 announcing the deployment of a Russian nuclear-capable missile system in Belarusian territory. The deployment of the intermediate-range Oreshnik system makes it slightly quicker for Russian missiles to reach the European Union in the event of war.
Although there is no information on the exact location of the missile, US researchers have speculated that a former airbase in eastern Belarus may be the chosen site. The move indicates Russia's reliance on these types of nuclear-capable weapons to try to deter the supply of weapons to Ukraine that are capable of penetrating deep into Russian territory.
For all kinds of reasons, certain nations have strict and often scary defense policies, including arming themselves with nuclear weapons. With a global nuclear stockpile of over 13,000, it's scary to imagine that most of these are much more powerful than the nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki! But which countries host the most nuclear weapons? Click on to find out.