MOSCOW, March 27. /TASS/. The West’s reaction will have no effect on Russia’s plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

"No doubt, such a reaction [on the part of the West] will not affect Russia’s plans," Peskov assured, saying he has nothing to add to the comments made by Russian President Vladimir Putin in an interview on Saturday.

Putin said earlier that, at Belarus’ request, Russia would deploy its tactical nuclear weapons in the country, similar to what the United States has been doing for some time on the territories of its allies. Moscow has already handed over the nuclear-capable Iskander missile system to Minsk. According to the Russian leader, a special storage facility for tactical nukes will be built in Belarus by July 1.

The Russian president said that his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko had long raised the issue of deploying Russian tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian soil. Putin assured that the agreement with Belarus was not in violation of the two countries’ international obligations on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons.

The West reacted negatively. The European Union’s diplomacy chief Josep Borrell warned that the EU would be ready to impose more sanctions if Russia proceeded with its tactical nukes deployment in Belarus. The French Foreign Ministry has called on Russia to reconsider the decision, insisting on its destabilizing nature. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said on its website on Sunday that Kiev had demanded that the UN Security Council convene an extraordinary meeting.