MINSK, August 15. /TASS/. The deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus poses no threat to other nations as they can only be used in response to an attempt to encroach on the country’s territory, Belarusian Security Council State Secretary Alexander Volfovich said on the sidelines of the 11th Moscow Conference on International Security.

"The deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus is a forced measure that poses no threat at all to the security of Poland, Lithuania or any other country," he pointed out, as cited by the Belarusian news agency BelTA. "These weapons will only be used if someone tries to encroach on the territory of Belarus," Volfovich stressed, adding that the weapons would be stored in accordance with all rules and regulations. "We hope that they will never be used. We understand the consequences of using such weapons," the state secretary noted.

According to him, although Belarus stands for peace and good-neighborliness, the country’s authorities have to take measures "of strategic deterrence in order to ensure security," given the troop deployments that are taking place in the neighboring countries, namely Poland and the Baltic states. Besides, the countries keep receiving new weapons and increasing their defense budgets.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia would place its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus at Minsk’s request, the way the US had long been doing on the territory of its allies. Putin announced on June 16 that the first Russian nuclear warheads had already been delivered to Belarus and the entire batch would be deployed by the end of the year. On June 23, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that a significant part of the warheads planned to be delivered had already arrived in the country.