Belarus dictator Lukashenko admits he is 'bonkers' and has no 'red lines' as he threatens the West with nukes and warns 'we are closer than ever to nuclear catastrophe'

Unhinged dictator of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has admitted he is 'bonkers' and has no 'red lines' as he threatens the West with nuclear weapons given to him by Vladimir Putin.

His rant came as Russian and Belarusian forces carried out tactical nuclear weapons drills, claiming the West is threatening them.

'We are closer than ever to a nuclear catastrophe,' said Lukashenko, 69, who maintained his grip on power after rigging a presidential election and brutally quashing protests in 2020.

'We are not planning to attack anyone. But everyone should understand that we will hit back.

'And all their chatter ''Ah…Putin is pushing Lukashenko''. And then about me ''He's bonkers, he has no [red] lines''.

'They are absolutely right in saying so. I am far from stupid but I have no [red] lines.'

Belarus stages nuclear drills

Russian and Belarusian forces are carrying out tactical nuclear weapons drills, claiming the West is threatening them

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko take part in a flower-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Victory Day, which marks the 79th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in central Moscow, Russia, May 9, 2024

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko attends a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council of the Eurasian Economic Union at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on Wednesday, May 8, 2024

Pictures and footage show Lukashenko's troops engaged in tactical nuclear weapons tests in Belarus that also involved land-fired Iskander missiles and aerial warheads fired from Su-25 planes.

Putin last year supplied nuclear weapons to Belarus, with Lukashenko constituting the Russian president's closest ally.

The pair met in Moscow this week amid ongoing exercises, where a rambling Lukashenko told journalists: 'Nuclear weapons are terrible weapons.

'You have probably noticed that we and the Russian leadership often emphasise - not of a strategic nature.

'God forbid that we should take up this button again.

Today's tactical weapons 'are many times more powerful than they were in Hiroshima and Nagasaki', Lukashenko said. 

'One explosion will kill thousands and thousands of people. It's a terrible weapon. And in order to use such weapons, you have to train, you have to know how to do it.

'This is our third training. The Russians have done more than that. But why did we do it publicly? You see what the situation is.

'There is an escalation of tension, which comes primarily from Ukraine. But escalation is not only in Ukraine: the Middle East is already in flames, Iran is close by, further away, in the Pacific region - against China.

'I have already said: we are closer than ever to a nuclear catastrophe. What should we do in this situation?

'We must learn to shoot with a machine gun. And keep the powder dry, including this deadly weapon.

'For us and Russia, it's exclusively a weapon of deterrence. We don't want anything alien to us, and Russia doesn't want anything alien to them.'

Today's tactical weapons 'are many times more powerful than they were in Hiroshima and Nagasaki', Lukashenko said.

Masked Belarusian soldiers man a missile launcher

Putin and Lukashenko met in Moscow this week amid ongoing exercises, where the Belarusian president made shocking comments to journalists

FILE - In this photo released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on April 20, 2022, a Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile is launched from Plesetsk in northwestern Russia

Russian security council deputy head Dmitry Medvedev said this week that the use of Western missiles by Kyiv to strike on Russian soil - or the placement of NATO troops in Ukraine - will be seen as a direct entry of Western countries into the war 'to which we will have to respond'.

'In this case, none of them will be able to hide either on Capitol Hill, or in the Elysee Palace, or in 10 Downing Street.

'A world catastrophe will come.

'By the way, Kennedy and Khrushchev were able to understand this more than 60 years ago.

'But the current infantile morons who have seized power in the West do not want to understand,' he said.