MINSK, July 3. /TASS/. The military and political situation in Eastern Europe may escalate into a nuclear conflict due to the destructive policy of Western countries, Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said.

"The coalition of Western countries is deliberately pursuing a policy aimed at eroding relations, steadily pushing aggressive narratives against the members of the Commonwealth [of Independent States]. As a result, a number of new military challenges and threats have emerged in the Eastern European region, which may lead to open military confrontation and even the use of nuclear weapons amid the actual collapse of the regional security architecture," he pointed out at a meeting of the CIS Council of Defense Ministers in the Belarusian capital of Minsk.

Khrenin added that "the current military and political situation in the Eastern European region can be described as a crisis, with all the preconditions for switching to conflict mode."