Russia has reportedly struck a deal with neighboring Belarus to station tactical nuclear weapons on its territory, Tass news agency quoted Russian President Vladimir Putin as saying on Saturday.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has long raised the issue of stationing tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, which borders Poland, Putin said in comments broadcast on state TV Saturday..
“We agreed with Lukashenko that we would place tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus without violating the nonproliferation regime,” Tass quoted Putin as saying.
Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons might arrive to Belarus as early as this summer, Putin said.
Moscow is finishing the construction of a specialized storage for such arms amid repeated calls by Minsk to deploy tactical nuclear weapons on the Belarusian territory, he added.
The storage in Belarus will be ready on July 1, Putin told Russia 24 TV.
Putin also said that Moscow does not plan to hand over control over any tactical nuclear weapons to Minsk but would only deploy its own arms to the Belarusian territory.
He did not specify when exactly the weapons would be transported to the new storage.
Read more here: https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/russia-station-tactical-nukes-belarus-july-putin-says-state-tv
