An effort has already begun to move non-strategic nuclear weapons to Belarus from Russia, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said yesterday, according to a report in TASS.
During a live broadcast on Russia’s TV Channel One, Lukashenko said: “He [Russian President Vladimir Putin] informed me that today he had signed a decree on our actions to store nuclear weapons in Belarus. He talked about a particular document. A decision was made to implement what was said in a verbal form. We needed to prepare storage sites and so on. We did this and that is why the effort of moving nuclear munitions has begun.”
When asked about whether the non-strategic nuclear weapons were on Belarusian soil, Lukashenko replied: “Possibly. I will come and see.”
In response to Lukashenko’s statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today: “We know that Belarus is facing very unfriendly, if not hostile, manifestations on the part of its neighboring states. We have heard very aggressive statements against Belarus, we have also heard official statements declaring the intention to interfere in the domestic affairs of Belarus.
“All this, of course, allows us to conclude that Belarus is in a very hostile environment. All this requires us to further develop our allied relations and strengthen these relations, which implies various areas, including further development of relations in the military sphere. This is exactly what we are doing,” Peskov said. Peskov did not answer the question whether the process of transferring non-strategic nuclear weapons from Russia to the territory of Belarus had actually begun. “I’ve said everything I wanted to say on this subject,” he replied.
While the transfer of the weapons from Russia to Belarus has not been confirmed, the process had been set into motion starting in late March, when Russian President Vladimir Putin first announced that Minsk requested the presence of Russian tactical nuclear weapons. According to TASS at the time, “As the Russian leader indicated, the construction of storage facilities for tactical nuclear weapons will be completed in Belarus by July 1.”
