Belarus has issued a statement justifying its decision to host Russian tactical nuclear weapons, Reuters reports.
The Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs aligned with Russia in explaining the decision as a necessary reaction to NATO and Western pressure on its security, saying,
Over the last two and a half years, the Republic of Belarus has been subjected to unprecedented political, economic and information pressure from the United States, the United Kingdom and its NATO allies, as well as the member states of the European Union.
In view of these circumstances, and the legitimate concerns and risks in the sphere of national security arising from them, Belarus is forced to respond by strengthening its own security and defence capabilities.
Minsk added that it would not be violating non-proliferation agreements because Moscow would be in control of any nuclear weapons brought into Belarus.
According to The Independent, Putin has long accused the U.S. of violating nuclear non-proliferation agreements by staging nuclear weapons in Europe, while NATO has thrown the same accusation at the Kremlin and defended its own record on nuclear contention.
“NATO’s nuclear deterrence posture also relies on the United States’ nuclear weapons forward-deployed in Europe, as well as on the capabilities and infrastructure provided by Allies concerned,” the NATO website states regarding the alliance’s nuclear strategy.
Putin initially said the decision to move tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus was a direct reaction to London’s decision to send shells containing depleted uranium to Ukraine, an accusation the Russian leader later had to walk back, though he maintains that the armour-piercing shells sent from Britain to Ukraine pose a high threat to Russia.
Russia and Belarus have close military ties and during the Soviet era, Russian nuclear weapons were stationed in Belarus. Russia has also already equipped Belarusian war aircraft to carry nuclear weapons. Putin claims that Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has been requesting that Moscow stage nuclear weapons within his country’s borders.
