President Vladimir Putin was quoted on Saturday by the Tass news agency as saying that Russia has reached an agreement with Belarus, which is next door, to place tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian soil.
Putin stated that such a move wouldn’t contravene nuclear nonproliferation agreements and added that the US has nuclear weapons deployed on the soil of European partners.
The stationing of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, which borders Poland, has long been a concern for Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, according to Putin.
‘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.
Russia has already stationed 10 aircraft in Belarus capable of carrying tactical nuclear weapons, he said.
The move comes as the US imposed fresh sanctions on Belarus this week as punishment for its continued support of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The newly imposed sanctions targeted seven Belarusian elections officials, two state-owned automotive manufacturers and President Alexander Lukashenko’s private Boening 737 aircraft.
The seven officials are part of Belarus’ Central Election Commission, which was originally sanctioned in December 2020 after being widely accused of rigging the presidential election in Lukashenko’s favour and cracking down on dissent.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that the U.S. ‘will continue to impose costs on the regime and those who support it for their repression of the people of Belarus” and for the Belarusian government’s support for Russia’s war.
The State Department also imposed visa restrictions on 14 additional people involved in “policies to threaten and intimidate the Belarusian people.’
Last month, leaked documents revealed a top secret plan by the Kremlin to annex Belarus and absorb it into Russia by 2030.