President Vladimir Putin says Russia has struck a deal with neighboring Belarus to station tactical nuclear weapons on its territory on Saturday.
Gatekeepers News reports that Putin says that Russia has already stationed 10 aircraft in Belarus capable of carrying tactical nuclear weapons.
Putin also said that such a move would not violate nuclear nonproliferation agreements, adding that the United States had stationed nuclear weapons on the territory of European allies.
Putin also noted that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has long raised the issue of stationing tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, which borders Poland.
“We agreed with Lukashenko that we would place tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus without violating the nonproliferation regime,” Tass quoted Putin as saying.
Russia will have completed the construction of a storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus by July 1, Putin said, adding that Russia would not actually be transferring control of the arms to Minsk.
