MINSK, December 10. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has confirmed that his country possesses nuclear weapons.
"I have deployed nuclear warheads here. Several dozen warheads. Many say that this is a joke and no one has deployed anything. Yes, we did. And the fact that they [opponents] say that this is a joke means that they have missed it. They overlooked how we brought them here," the BelTA news agency quoted him as saying while visiting the city of Borisov.
Commenting on plans to deploy the non-nuclear Russian Oreshnik missile system to Belarus, he noted that using these types of high-powered weapons carries a great responsibility. "Ever since Hiroshima and Nagasaki, no one has ever pressed the nuclear button. Not even the leading powers, let alone Belarus," he said, adding that he has warned his "enemies, ‘friends,’ and rivals" about the inadmissibility of violating Belarus’ state border.
According to earlier reports, Moscow announced its plans to deploy its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus at the latter’s request, similar to what the United States had long been doing on the territory of its allies. Moscow provided Minsk with Iskander tactical missile systems capable of carrying nuclear weapons and helped Minsk to re-equip its planes to carry specialized weapons. It was also reported that the majority of warheads was already in Belarus and in late April 2024 Lukashenko said that Russia had deployed several dozen nuclear warheads.