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Russia has reached an agreement with neighboring Belarus to host tactical nuclear weapons on its territory, but will not violate nonproliferation agreements, President Vladimir Putin said Saturday.
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has long raised the issue of stationing tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, which borders Poland, Putin told state television.
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“There is nothing unusual here either: firstly, the United States has been doing this for decades. They have long placed their tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of their allied countries,” he said.
“We agreed that we would do the same – without violating our obligations, I emphasize, without violating our international obligations on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons.”
Russia will complete the construction of a tactical nuclear weapons storage facility in Belarus by July 1, Putin said, adding that Moscow would not actually transfer arms control to Minsk.
According to him, Russia has deployed 10 aircraft capable of carrying tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, adding that Moscow has already transferred to Belarus a number of operational-tactical Iskander missile systems that can be used to launch nuclear weapons.
(Reporting by David Lynggren in Ottawa. Edited by Matthew Lewis and Deepa Babington)
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