President Vladimir Putin has stated that Russia will place tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
According to Russian state media, President Putin stated the action would not contravene nuclear non-proliferation accords and contrasted it to the US stationing its weapons in Europe.
He continued by saying that Moscow would not give Minsk command of its arsenal.
Following the declaration, the US claimed it did not think Russia was prepared to deploy its nuclear weapons.
According to a statement from the US Defense Department, “We have not found any need to modify our own strategic nuclear posture.”
“We are still firmly committed to defending NATO as a whole.”
The regime in Belarus is an unwavering ally of the Kremlin and a promoter of the invasion of Ukraine.
On Saturday, President Putin stated on Russian state television that Alexander Lukashenko, the leader of Belarus, had long brought up the subject of placing tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
“Neither is there anything remarkable here,” he added. “First off, this is something that America has been doing for a long time. Their tactical nuclear weapons have been placed on the soil of their allies for a long time.”
By July 1st, President Putin added, Russia would have finished building a facility in Belarus for the storage of tactical nuclear weapons.
According to President Putin, Belarus has already received a modest number of Iskander tactical missile systems that are capable of launching nuclear bombs.
When the weapons will be sent to Belarus was not made clear by him. Russia will have nuclear weapons bases outside of the nation for the first time since the middle of the 1990s.
Following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, weapons were based in four newly independent nations: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. The transfer of all warheads to Russia was completed in 1996.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, has once again requested further military assistance from his Western partners, prompting President Putin’s remarks.
An deal to send the war-torn nation at least one million artillery shells over the next year was reached earlier this week by about 18 nations.
President Zelensky, however, stated in a Japanese newspaper interview that Ukraine could not begin a military counteroffensive in the east of the country until more munitions came.
