MOSCOW, October 20. /TASS/. The US military has launched active work for modernizing tactical nuclear weapons and their storage sites in European countries, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday.

"The United States of America has stepped up work with the full support of its NATO allies to modernize tactical nuclear weapons and their storage sites in Europe," Russia’s defense chief said at a joint board meeting of the Defense Ministries of Russia and Belarus.

As the Russian defense minister pointed out, "a cause for special concern is the engagement of pilots from the bloc’s non-nuclear member states in the drills to practice employing tactical nuclear weapons."

"We regard this as a direct violation of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons," Russia’s defense chief stressed.