This deters states from using their nuclear weapons against us or carrying out the most extreme threats to our national security. Potential aggressors know that the costs of attacking the UK, or NATO allies, could far outweigh any benefit they could hope to achieve.

The purpose of nuclear deterrence is to preserve peace, prevent coercion and deter aggression. Terry asks how Russian nuclear defences weigh up against the West's and what implications this has in terms of nuclear deterrence. You've been submitting your questions to our experts for their insight on the most pertinent questions to the war. That is what Russia signed up to under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) - that nuclear powers must prevent non-nuclear states from acquiring them.Īlexander Lukashenko enjoys a camera in his face and the feeling of power that nuclear weapons on his turf may convey.īut in reality, it is a mark of his diminished sovereignty that Russia should choose to store any part of its nuclear arsenal on Belarusian soil, as though it were an extension of its own. The deal has always been that Russia and Russia alone would have control over any deployment, just as the United States retains firing rights - heaven forbid - over its nuclear weapons situated in Europe. It is up to Vladimir Putin who said last week they should be in situ by 7 or 8 July once storage facilities are in place.

The fact of the matter is, it is not up to him. It is perhaps not worth reading too much into Lukashenko's declarations - whether the weapons are there already, or not, or are coming in drips and drabs, just how powerful they are and that he'd use them if he had to. Analysis by Diana Magnay, Moscow correspondent

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