Russia has signed an agreement with neighboring Belarus to station tactical nuclear weapons on its territory, marking the first time that Moscow has deployed such weapons outside the country since the mid-1990s.
President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that this does not violate the nonproliferation agreement.
The announcement comes at a time of rising tensions with the West over the war in Ukraine, and at a time when some Russian commentators are speculating about possible nuclear strikes.
Putin told state television that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has long been raising the issue of stationing tactical nuclear weapons in his country, which borders NATO member Poland.
“Again, this is not unusual: firstly, the US 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 to do the same – without violating our obligations, I emphasize, without violating our international non-proliferation obligations.”
Russia will complete the construction of a tactical nuclear weapons storage facility in Belarus by July 1, Putin said, adding that Moscow would not effectively hand over weapons control to Minsk.
Russia has deployed 10 aircraft in Belarus that can carry tactical nuclear weapons, he said, adding that Moscow had already transferred to Belarus a number of Iskander operational-tactical missile systems that could be used to launch nuclear weapons.
“This is a very important step,” said Nikolai Sokol, senior fellow at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation. “Russia has always been very proud of the fact that it does not have nuclear weapons outside its territory. So yes, they are changing that now and it’s a big change.
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, nuclear weapons were deployed in four newly independent states—Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan.
In May 1992, the four states agreed on the deployment of all weapons in Russia, and in 1996, deliveries of nuclear warheads from Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan were completed.
Additional coverage from Reuters
Source: I News
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