MINSK, April 14. /TASS/. Belarus has been a target of NATO for a long time already and the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian soil has changed nothing, Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said on Friday.

"[There is] no need to harbor any illusions that we will become a target now. Since the time of the Belarusian Military District (under the Soviet Union -TASS), we have been a target for NATO. Reconnaissance has always been conducted against us. Now, it has just been stepped up because certain blustering politicians for some reason do not want to sit down at the negotiating table," the BelTA news agency quoted him as saying.

The top military official explained that the "superfluous drawing of attention to the subject of war [and] nuclear arms is an attempt to exacerbate the situation."

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that Russia, at Minsk’s request, would deploy its tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian soil, precisely the way the US has deployed elements of its own nuclear arsenal on the territory of its allies. That said, he stressed that this does not constitute a handover of arms. According to the Russian head of state, the construction of a storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons within the borders of Belarus would be completed by July 1.

On April 5, Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko held one-on-one talks in Moscow and attended a meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Russia-Belarus Union State on the following day. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that the Supreme State Council discussed security guarantees among other subjects, while Russia, given the current situation, "should consider the possibility of ensuring security guarantees for Belarus as it would for an ally.".