Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu met with his Belarusian counterpart Viktor Khrenin in Minsk on May 25, where they discussed closer military cooperation between the two countries. The agenda included the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons onto Belarusian soil.
“In the circumstances of an extremely sharp escalation of threats and activity of NATO joint nuclear missions, we are compelled to take retaliatory measures in the military-nuclear sphere,” Shoigu said, reported the Russian Defense Ministry on its Telegram channel. “The deployment of Russian Federation non-strategic nuclear weapons on the territory of the Republic of Belarus has been planned in accordance with the decision of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Federation.” He noted that this includes providing Iskander M ballistic missiles to Belarus and upgrading some Belarusian combat aircraft to carry Russian nuclear weapons.
Shoigu elaborated, according to RT, that “NATO is using the Ukraine crisis as an excuse to build up its forces in Eastern Europe and deploy weapons which are being aimed at Russia and Belarus. Furthermore, Shoigu stated, there is “increasingly aggressive rhetoric and joint ‘nuclear missions’ of NATO countries in Eastern Europe,” including testing the use of nuclear weapon delivery vehicles and improving the US global missile defense system.
RT reported that “Shoigu stressed that these missions, along with deliveries of depleted uranium to Ukraine, are forcing Russia and Belarus to take appropriate response measures…The minister noted that given the new military-political realities, Russia and Belarus have been strengthening their collective defensive capabilities.”