Shoigu: the decision on the use of nuclear weapons deployed in Belarus remains with Moscow

Russia will retain control over non-strategic nuclear weapons, which it will place on the territory of Belarus. This was stated by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu at a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Viktor Khrenin, during which documents were signed defining the procedure for keeping such weapons in a special storage facility.

“Russia does not transfer nuclear weapons to the Republic of Belarus: control over them and the decision on their use remains with the Russian side,” said Shoigu (quote according to TASS).

Khrenin, in turn, said that Minsk is interested in the further development of allied relations with Moscow in the military sphere. The deployment of non-strategic nuclear weapons on the territory of the republic, according to him, is an “effective response” to the aggressive policy of countries unfriendly to the Russian Federation and Belarus.

March 25 Russian President Vladimir Putin declared on the completion of the construction of a storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons (TNW) in Belarus by July 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 handling them.

Russia has already handed over to the republic the Iskander complex, which can be the carrier of such weapons.

Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov later said that the deployment of nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus would balance the entire security architecture in Europe against the backdrop of NATO expansion towards Russia’s borders.