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NATO takes Russia's nuclear weapons deployment in Belarus seriously — Stoltenberg

"So far, we haven’t seen any changes in the Russian nuclear posture, deployments, which require any changes in our posture," the NATO Secretary-General said

BRUSSELS, June 16. /TASS/. NATO does not yet see the need to change the alliance's nuclear configuration in connection with Russia's deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus, but takes Moscow's decision seriously, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday.

"Of course, we take it seriously when Russia has announced they will deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus, we’ve seen some preparations going on. We will monitor closely what they are doing, we will remain vigilant, and of course this is part of [the] nuclear messaging, a nuclear rhetoric that we’ve seen over some time," Stoltenberg said at a press conference following the meeting of the alliance’s top defense officials, "So far, we haven’t seen any changes in the Russian nuclear posture, deployments, which require any changes in our posture, but we will constantly assess what to do."

Earlier, speaking in Brussels, Stoltenberg slammed Russian statements about the deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus as "reckless and dangerous."

Currently, between 150 and 200 US nuclear bombs are deployed in five non-nuclear NATO countries: Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey.

To date, experts, including from the Federation of American Scientists, believe the bombs are B-61 bombs with a capacity of 18 megatons each. They are deployed at six air bases: in Germany (Buchel, more than 20), Italy (Aviano and Gedi, 70-110), Belgium (Kleine Brogel, 10-20), the Netherlands (Volkel, 10-20) and Turkey (Incirlik, 50-90).

Since the end of the Cold War, the US has ignored all calls to remove its tactical nuclear weapons from Europe.

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