MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s remark about the possible deployment of Russian nuclear weapons to his country was triggered by the West’s reckless policy, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted, addressing Russia’s Federation Council (the upper house of parliament) on Wednesday.
"I would take the statement as a very serious warning triggered primarily by the reckless policy that the West pursues," Lavrov pointed out.
He noted that when a new coalition government was being formed in Germany, the media reported that some coalition members suggested including a demand for the withdrawal of US nuclear weapons from Germany into the cabinet’s program. "Mr. Stoltenberg (the NATO secretary general — TASS) said then that if Germany does not want the nuclear weapons, then NATO would move them eastward, so to say, to the former socialist democratic countries. What else do we have to explain to our Western colleagues to stop this kind of recklessness?" Lavrov mused.
According to him, Lukashenko simply reacted to such statements, "which are absolutely irresponsible and aimed at triggering an armed conflict."