MINSK, September 26. /TASS/. Deploying the Russian missile system Oreshnik in Belarus is a defensive move, and cannot be viewed as fueling a "reckless" arms race, Belarusian Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov said at a high-level plenary meeting at the UN headquarters in New York marking the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.

"While as part of the Soviet Union and in the early years of our independence we disarmed with assistance from the West, withdrawing nuclear weapons and disposing of conventional arms and mines, the West, as it turns out, started rearming itself in a clandestine manner," BelTA news agency quoted him as saying. "Today, mines are being planted on our border - with Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, ignoring legitimate concerns over the security of others, including Belarus," he added.

Under those circumstances, Belarus had to deploy Russian tactical nukes on its soil, "for security guarantees," the country’s top diplomat explained. Exactly for these purposes, he continued, the Russian-made Oreshnik ballistic missiles, too, will be deployed in Belarus. "We are not launching a reckless arms race, nor are we provoking any further confrontation. Our response is asymmetrical and it is purely defensive in nature as these measures are being taken in strict compliance with international law and provisions of the Non-Proliferation Treaty," Ryzhenkov concluded.