MINSK, March 28. /TASS/. Belarus has no choice but to take retaliatory measures to strengthen its security amid the military build-up in NATO neighboring countries, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry’s press service told TASS on Tuesday.
"Unilateral coercive measures in politics and economics are coupled with the growing military potential of neighboring NATO countries right on our borders. Taking into consideration the abovementioned circumstances and all the resulting legitimate concerns in the national security sphere, Belarus is forced to take retaliatory measures to strengthen its security and defense," the Foreign Ministry said in reply to a question about other countries’ exaggerated reaction to reports about the prospects of deploying Russian tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of the country.
The diplomats pointed out that they considered the West's actions as "direct and blatant interference in the domestic affairs of a sovereign state aimed at changing the geopolitical course or changing the political system of Belarus." The Foreign Ministry underscored that this "directly contradicts the commitments made by some signatories of the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances in connection with Belarus joining the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons."
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on March 25 that, at Minsk’s request, Moscow would deploy its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, similar to what the United States had been doing for some time on the territories of its allies. Russia has already handed over the nuclear-capable Iskander missile system to Belarus. According to the Russian leader, a special storage facility for tactical nukes will be built in Belarus by July 1.