MOSCOW, April 25. /TASS/. Moscow does not care what the West thinks of its plans to deploy tactical nuclear missiles in Belarus, a senior Russian diplomat said in an interview with TASS.
According to Vladimir Yermakov, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Department, it is only how well its own security is ensured, that is "the security of Russia and Belarus as the Union State," that matters to Moscow.
"The West can keep its negative reaction to itself. We care about that as much as NATO countries have `cared’ for decades about Russia’s concerns over the deployment of US nuclear weapons in Europe," he added.
According to the Russian diplomat, US nuclear weapons are stationed in six military facilities in five Eurasian countries, "to which the US does not belong."
"Actually, Washington has for decades kept its nuclear weapons thousands of kilometers away from its jurisdictions at forefront bases, from where its NATO allies can hit strategic targets on Russian or Belarusian soil. While we act as two fraternal countries within the Union State, whose territory forms a single defense area," Yermakov concluded.