Lukashenko urged Kazakhstan to join the Union State

Kazakhstan should join the Union State of Russia and Belarus, then “there will be nuclear weapons for everyone,” said President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, answering to a question from journalist Pavel Zarubin.

Earlier, during his speech at the plenary session of the II Eurasian Economic Forum, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev pointed to the “phenomenon” of the Union State of Russia and Belarus in the structure of the EAEU and the presence of “one nuclear weapon for two”. In this regard, the Kazakh leader proposed to discuss the problem of different levels of integration of countries.

Commenting on Tokayev’s fears, Lukashenko doubted that the Kazakh president “worries about this.” According to him, no one opposes the fact that Kazakhstan and other countries have the same close relations as Moscow has with Minsk.

“And it’s very simple: you have to join the Belarus-Russia union. Everything – and there will be nuclear weapons for everyone. This is my opinion, this is not the opinion of the Russians, but I think it is possible. We must strategically understand that we have a unique chance to unite,” he said.

Earlier this week, Kazakh presidential spokesman Ruslan Zheldibay said the republic does not intend create or join any union states, although “the two members of the EAEU – Russia and Belarus – demonstrate a higher and closer level of rapprochement.”

Zheldibay called the current situation a unique precedent. At the same time, it is important to separate initiatives within the framework of two integration projects, “which have completely different goals,” he added. Tokayev stressed during the forum in Moscow that integration within the framework of the EAEU should be only economic, Zheldibay recalled. Going beyond it violates the goals and principles of the association, the spokesman added.

On March 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the completion of the construction of a storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons (TNW) in Belarus by July of this year. The President noted that Moscow is not transferring nuclear weapons to Minsk, but is doing what the United States has been doing for many years: deploying tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of allies and training their pilots in how to handle them.

Defense Ministers of Russia and Belarus Sergei Shoigu and Viktor Khrenin 25 May signed documents defining the procedure for keeping Russian nuclear weapons in a special storage facility on the territory of the republic. On the same day, Lukashenka announced that “the transfer of nuclear weapons” to the territory of his country has begun. Shoigu called the reasons for the decision to deploy nuclear weapons the activity of NATO’s joint nuclear missions, including the training of pilots of non-nuclear countries of the alliance in the use of American nuclear bombs stored in Europe.