MINSK, June 13. /TASS/. Belarus has been developing its defensive potential in a transparent and consistent manner despite continued Western pressure and one of the steps it took to this end was to ask its ally Russia to deploy tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory, Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Ambrazevich said on Tuesday.

"Belarus is taking responsive steps to develop its defensive potential in a consistent and transparent manner for its neighbors and international society," Ambrazevich said speaking at a plenary meeting of the UN Disarmament Commission devoted to the prevention of nuclear war.

"These measures are solely of a defensive nature and aimed at strengthening the defense capabilities of Belarus," the Belarusian permanent representation with the UN stated on its Telegram channel citing Ambrazevich as saying.

The diplomat noted that cooperation between Minsk and Moscow is of a strategic defensive nature and it is carried out in strict compliance with international law.

"We have the sovereign right to turn for help from our closest ally," he said. "The deployment of tactical nuclear warheads on Belarusian soil, if this happens, is an exclusively forced response to the challenges and national security risks that our country is currently facing."

The Belarusian diplomat stressed that the measures at issue are carried out in strict compliance with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Ambrazevich said that the main reason behind the increased tensions around nuclear disarmament was that some countries had ignored the legitimate security interests and concerns of other countries for many years.

He stressed that despite the provisions of the (1994) Budapest Memorandum, which was signed by the United States and Great Britain and granted guarantees to Belarus regarding the withdrawal of the Soviet Union’s nuclear weapons from its territory, Washington and London "flagrantly violated it and continue violating it to this day."

Ambrazevich reiterated that "the United States, Great Britain and their NATO allies from the EU have slapped Belarus with an unprecedented number of economic sanctions and restrictions."

He also pointed out that NATO member states which border Belarus have for many years been creating new military formations, while Poland was engaged in training militants in an aim to violently overthrow the Minsk authorities. Moreover, he said, a mass media war against Belarus is also underway.

The Belarusian deputy foreign minister added that the West’s actions are aimed at "destroying the union of Russia and Belarus, thus weakening Moscow and assuming control of an extra 600-kilometer stretch from west to east between NATO and Russia."