UNITED NATIONS, March 31. /TASS/. All countries, without exception, need to strictly comply with their obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), Izumi Nakamitsu, UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, said on Friday, commenting on the information about the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
"All states must avoid taking any actions that could lead to escalation, mistake or miscalculation," she said at the UN Security Council session. "All states - parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons or the NPT, nuclear weapon states and non-nuclear weapon states alike, must strictly adhere to the commitments and obligations they have assumed under the treaty."
Adhering to all NPT provisions, Nakamitsu added, is "at the core of the maintenance of international peace and security."
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry told TASS earlier that the training of Belarusian pilots to fly aircraft with specific munitions and the deployment of nuclear charges on the territory of Belarus in no way contradicts international law, in particular the NPT provisions. The Belarusian Foreign Ministry pointed out that such practice was not a novelty "in the sphere of military cooperation between a non-nuclear state and a nuclear power."
On March 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that at Minsk’s request, Moscow would deploy its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, similar to what the United States had long been doing on the territory of its allies. Moscow has already provided Minsk with Iskander tactical missile systems capable of carrying nuclear weapons. As the Russian leader pointed out, the construction of storage facilities for tactical nuclear weapons would have been completed in Belarus by July 1.