Belarus will get tactical nuclear weapons from Russia, according to President Vladimir Putin.
According to Russian state media, President Putin equated the action to the US stationing its weapons in Europe and stated it would not violate nuclear non-proliferation accords.
He said that Russia will not hand over command of its arsenal to Minsk.
After the declaration, the US stated that it did not think Russia was getting ready to deploy its nuclear weapons.
The US Defense Department released a statement in which it stated, “We have not seen any cause to modify our own strategic nuclear posture.”
“We are still dedicated to defending the NATO alliance as a whole.”
The Belarusian government is a staunch ally of the Kremlin and a proponent of the invasion of Ukraine.
On Saturday, President Putin stated on Russian state television that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko had long brought up the idea of tactical nuclear weapons being stationed in Belarus.
Nothing out of the ordinary is happening here, he added. “First of all, the US has been doing this for years. On the soil of their allies’ nations, they have long since placed their tactical nuclear weapons.”
By July 1, Russia will have finished building a facility in Belarus for storing tactical nuclear weapons, stated President Putin.
Belarus has already received a modest number of Iskander tactical missile systems, which can be used to launch nuclear weapons, according to President Putin.
He did not say precisely when Belarus will receive the weaponry. For the first time since the middle of the 1990s, Moscow will have nuclear weapons bases outside of its borders.
Weapons were based in four newly independent republics when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. The transfer of all warheads to Russia was completed in 1996.
Following a new request for further military assistance from his Western partners, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made remarks by President Putin.
Over 18 nations agreed to send the war-torn nation at least one million artillery shells over the course of the upcoming year earlier this week.
But, President Zelensky stated that Ukraine could not begin a potential counteroffensive in the country’s east until more ammunition came in an interview with a Japanese publication.
