MINSK, April 14. /TASS/. Belarus may deploy strategic nuclear weapons on its soil, if aggressive rhetoric continues to come out of the West, Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said on Friday.

"If the hostile rhetoric continues, this (the deployment of strategic nuclear weapons - TASS) will be our next step. We will use force against force, for they don’t understand any other" language, Belarus’ top brass quoted him as saying.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that at the request of the Belarusian side Russia would station its tactical nuclear weapons in that country, precisely the way the United States has long kept its own nuclear warheads on the territories of its allies. Russia will not be transferring control to Belarus, Putin emphasized. According to him, the finishing touches will be put on a storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian by July 1.

Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko held tete-a-tete talks in Moscow on April 5, and the Supreme State Council of the Union State convened a meeting the next day. Commenting on key takeaways from the meeting, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said security guarantees were discussed. "Russia should consider the opportunity of providing security guarantees to Belarus <…> as our ally," he added.