MOSCOW, June 13. /TASS/. The Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus reliably protect the western borders of the Russia-Belarus Union State and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and create a counterbalance to neo-Nazi Ukraine and NATO, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement in the runup to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit to Minsk on June 14-15.

Amid the turbulent military and political situation in the world, Russia and Belarus have lately "taken serious measures to strengthen the common defense and security space of the Union State," the statement reads.

"The Joint Regional Group of Forces, advanced Russian defensive systems and tactical nuclear weapons deployed on the territory of Belarus reliably shield the western frontiers of the Union State and the CSTO, ensuring a counterbalance to neo-Nazi Ukraine and NATO forces stationed in neighboring countries," the ministry said.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced on June 13 that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov would visit Minsk on June 14-15 and would be received by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Russia and Belarus are deepening "military-technical cooperation, including industrial cooperation through defense industry enterprises."

"On December 6, 2024, the Security Concept of the Union State was approved, which provides for joint measures to neutralize and prevent the existing and foreseeable threats to the security of the Union State," the Russian Foreign Ministry noted. "At the same time, the presidents of the two countries signed an agreement on security guarantees within the framework of the Union State, which entered into force in March 2025. It contains a wide list of mutual allied obligations to ensure defense, protect sovereignty, inviolability of the territory and the external border of the Union State using all available forces and means, including nuclear weapons, in accordance with the "Fundamentals of the State Policy of the Russian Federation in the field of nuclear Deterrence" updated in November 2024."

Special representatives appointed by the presidents of Russia and Belarus to review the operation of the Treaty (at the level of deputy foreign ministers) have so far conducted two rounds of consultations (September 26, 2025 in Moscow and March 16-17, 2026 in Minsk), during which "a thorough joint analysis of security challenges and threats of the CIS and possible the answers to them."

"The next round is scheduled for September this year," the statement said.