Russian President Vladimir Putin says that Moscow will deploy some of its tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus next month, a move that the Belarusian opposition described as an attempt to blackmail the West. Putin said during Friday's meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko that work on building facilities for the nuclear weapons will be completed by July 7-8, and they will be moved to Belarus quickly after that. The move comes as Ukraine has stepped up attacks in several sectors of the front line in what some observers see as the start of its long-expected counteroffensive. Russia used Belarus’ territory to send troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, and has kept forces on Belarusian territory.
The US has a strong economic influence, but those countries still have sovereignty and can have disagreements. Lukashenko has no option but to obey Putin or he’ll be dead.
If you want to know what happens to sovereign countries that step out of line with the US, just look to Libya (highest HDI in Africa to bombed out husk with open slave markets) once it gave up its nukes at US request or Japan in the 90s (dared to have too competitive of an economy, was fiscally destroyed via US financial policy) or Iraq (US-supported against Iran, then targeted for destruction because it opposed being a US client state).
To be an enemy of the US is dangerous. To be an ally is lethal. European leaders are aware of how destructive the US and US-based transnational capital can be. They know how the system works and why their imports are so cheap. Now they’re helping the US deindustrialize themselves, which would be counter to any sustainable base of power and economic position without some other leverage (generally sopaking, economic and military threat to everyone else).