Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu stated that Putin has signed a deal to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus as a measure to counter potential military threats in the military-nuclear sphere.
Moscow and Minsk have signed a deal to formalise the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear missiles on Belarusian territory.
Russia on Thursday said the step was driven by rising tensions with the West.
“In the context of an extremely sharp escalation of threats on the western borders of Russia and Belarus, a decision was made to take countermeasures in the military-nuclear sphere,” Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency quoted Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu as saying.
The deployment of the missiles was first announced by President Vladimir Putin in March.
Since invading Ukraine last year, Putin has said repeatedly that Russia would be ready to use nuclear weapons if needed to defend its “territorial integrity”.
NATO said at the time it did not see any need ...