UNITED NATIONS, October 6. /TASS/. The withdrawal of Russian nuclear weapons from Belarus is unrealistic as long as US nuclear arms remain in Europe, a high-ranking Russian diplomat said.

"The review of Russia and Belarus’ joint decisions in the nuclear sphere is totally unrealistic without the US and NATO’s rejection of their harmful course to deliberately underme our security and without full withdrawal of US nuclear weapons from Europe and dismantling of relevant infrastructure," Konstantin Vorontsov, the deputy director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Department, told the First Committee of the UN General Assembly (on disarmament) on Thursday.

Vorontsov added that the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus should not be viewed as a violation of the country’s non-nuclear status.

"It should be noted that the Budapest memorandum was a part of the process to ensure that Belarus successfully joins the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear country," he added. "Beyond any doubt, the country has retained this status to date. Full control over nuclear weapons is being exercised by Russia.".