Putin and Lukashenko went to Valaam for prayer after the transfer of nuclear weapons to Belarus

The presidents of Russia and Belarus, Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko, visited Valaam Island, the press service of the Kremlin reported.

After negotiations in St. Petersburg, the third since the beginning of the summer, Putin and Lukashenko went to the Stauropegian Spaso-Preobrazhensky Valaam Monastery. There they worshiped the sanctuary with the relics of St. Sergius and Herman, who, according to legend, protected the monastery from the invasion of the Swedes.

Then Putin and Lukashenko went to the service at the church of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God, where, according to the Russia-1 channel, they took part in a prayer “for granting victory to the Russian army.”

The day before, he was visited by Putin and Lukashenko The Kronstadt Naval Cathedral is the main temple of the Russian Navy, where the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

The visit to Valaam, the first for Putin and Lukashenko since 2019, came three days after US intelligence finally confirmed the transfer of Russian tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus.

In late March, the Kremlin announced, for the first time since Soviet times, plans to deploy nuclear warheads outside the Russian Federation, promising to rearm 10 aircraft of the Belarusian Air Force with Iskander missiles. Lukashenko immediately called the Russian weapon his (“this is our weapon”) and promised to use it to defend sovereignty, in particular against Poland, which, according to Lukashenka, is allegedly preparing to attack Belarus.

Lukashenko spoke about Poland again at the meeting with Putin on July 23. He brought a map to St. Petersburg, which allegedly shows the movement of Polish troops towards the Belarusian borders. “One of the Polish brigades is now 40 kilometers away Brestanother is about 100 km from Grodno,” Lukashenka complained to Putin, adding that Poland was receiving money, arms, and was discussing a plan to annex western Ukrainian lands.

The same thesis was put forward by Putin himself two days earlier. At the July 21 Security Council meeting, he stated that the West was planning to send Polish and Lithuanian troops to Ukraine. “Including for allegedly ensuring the security of modern Western Ukraine, but really, if you call it what it is, for the subsequent occupation of these territories,” Putin explained.

The head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergei Naryshkin, specified then that this initiative would be formalized as the fulfillment of allied obligations under the Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian security initiative, the so-called “Lublin Triangle”.