MINSK, February 16. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said that his country does not need strategic nuclear weapons, since it is not going to attack the US or other countries, the BelTA news agency reports.
"We do not need strategic weapons absolutely. We are not going to kill Americans or launch strategic nuclear missiles from the territory of Belarus," Lukashenko told the media on Thursday. He stressed that Belarus was not going to "deal a strike on the US or the European countries."
"As for tactical nuclear weapons on the agenda, it is about reconfiguring aircraft to enable them to carry tactical nuclear weapons (earlier, Lukashenko said some planes of the national air force had been converted to carry nuclear weapons - TASS)," Lukashenko noted.
He recalled that when he took over as Belarusian leader, nuclear weapons were withdrawn from his country in accordance with the United States’ request.
"We had the most advanced Topol-M missiles. The most advanced weapons at the moment were here. We brought them out in exchange for guarantees from the Americans, Europeans and Russians that they would never encroach on our sovereignty and independence and would never apply economic sanctions against us," Lukashenko pointed out. "It was written down this way. They (the Western countries - TASS) have spit on it, trampled on it and applied sanctions against us. They try to strangle us wherever possible, in violation of that agreement."
If Belarus "had nuclear weapons, they would not be talking like that."
"It means that everyone understands only the language of force," he concluded.