MINSK, May 25. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that he has agreed with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the specific number and locations of non-strategic nuclear warheads to be placed in Belarus.
"I'm not going to mention any numbers or sites. We agreed on the placement of nuclear weapons - places, amounts and types of warheads. A decision had to be made. It is the Russian president that makes the decision," Lukashenko said while answering questions from journalist Pavel Zarubin on Thursday. A short video of the conversation was uploaded to Zarubin’s Telegram account.
On March 25, Vladimir Putin said that Russia would deploy its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus at Minsk’s request, precisely the way the United States has long done the same on the territory of its allies. According to the Russian head of state, the construction of a storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory was scheduled to be completed on July 1. Moscow has already handed over a nuclear-capable Iskander missile system to Minsk and provided assistance in re-equipping Belarusian aircraft to enable them to carry special munitions.