MOSCOW, April 7. /TASS/. The plans of deploying Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus won’t require revising Russia’s nuclear doctrine, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.
"No, this won’t require it," the Russian presidential spokesman said, responding to a question about whether the document needed to be updated, considering these plans.
Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier said that at the request of the Belarusian side, Russia would deploy its tactical nuclear weapons in the republic, pointing out that the United States had long been using this practice on the territory of its allies. The Russian leader said that the construction of a storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons would be completed on Belarusian soil by July 1.
Pursuant to Russia’s Nuclear Doctrine (the Fundamentals of Russia’s 2020 State Nuclear Containment Policy), Russia may use nuclear weapons in the event that the enemy employs these or other weapons of mass destruction against it or its allies or there comes reliable information about the launch of ballistic missiles for an attack on Russia and its allies, or the enemy impacts facilities required for retaliatory moves by nuclear forces and also in case of aggression against Russia with the use of conventional weapons, if the state’s very existence is threatened.