Russian President Vladimir Putin announced today, Saturday, that his country has reached an agreement with its neighbor Belarus to deploy tactical nuclear weapons on its territory.
Putin stated on Russian television that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has long raised the issue of deploying tactical nuclear weapons in his country, which borders Poland. Putin believes that this step does not violate nuclear non-proliferation agreements.
"There is nothing unusual here either: firstly, the United States has been doing this for decades. They have long been deploying their tactical nuclear weapons on the territories of their allied countries," he noted, referring to Europe.
Putin revealed that Russia will complete the construction of a facility to store tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus by July 1st, adding that Moscow will not actually transfer control of these weapons to Minsk. He also mentioned that Russia has already deployed ten aircraft in Belarus capable of carrying tactical nuclear weapons, and has transferred several Iskander tactical missile systems, which are also capable of carrying those weapons.
