UNITED NATIONS, March 31. /TASS/. Possible deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus will be carried out in accordance with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), and control of the warheads and technologies will remain in Russia’s hands, Belarus' permanent representative to the UN, Valentin Rybakov, said on Friday.
"These measures are being carried out in strict compliance with NPT provisions. Control of nuclear warheads as well as technologies are to remain in Russia’s hands. Under the NPT, nuclear weapon states must not transfer nuclear weapons as well as control of such weapons to anyone, and non-nuclear states are obliged not to accept nuclear weapons or control of such weapons," he said at a UN Security Council meeting.
On 25 March, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia would deploy its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus at the request of the Belarusian side, precisely the way the United States has long done on the territory of its allies. Moscow has already handed over to Minsk the Iskander missile system capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Also, Putin said that the finishing touches to a storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons currently under construction on the territory of Belarus would be put by on July 1.