MINSK, June 14. /TASS/. Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons will be deployed all across Belarus, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday.
"As soon as we receive them, we will place them all over Belarus. We have more than enough storage facilities. I am serious. We used to have a lot and now have restored five or six. We will continue to revive them. And we will deploy them at various locations. It is unwise to keep them in one place," he said in an interview with the Rossiya-1 television channel.
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 and has helped Minsk to re-equip its planes to carry specialized weapons. Missile crews and pilots have undergone training in Russia. At a meeting with Lukashenko on June 9, Putin said that the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus would begin immediately after operations to prepare facilities for their storage are over on July 7 or 8.