Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian president, said that Russia's tactical nuclear warheads may have already arrived in Belarus where they will be stored in multiple storage facilities.
"A decision has been made to develop the words spoken orally. We had to prepare storage, places, and so on. We did all of that, and so... the nuclear ammunition transfer began," he stated, as reported by European Pravda via Google Translate.
His remarks come just hours after the Belarusian and Russian defense ministers signed an agreement detailing the procedures for the storage of the latter's nukes in the country. The deployment of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus doesn't give Minsk control over the arms. Russia will still be in control of the nuclear warheads.
Matthew Miller, spokesperson for the U. S. State Department, called the signing of this agreement "an example of irresponsible conduct" and warned of "severe consequences", should Moscow use nuclear weapons during its war in Ukraine.
Miller said, "[It's] the latest example [of] irresponsible behavior that we have seen since Russia's full-scale invasion in Ukraine over a decade ago. I'll just add that we have not seen any reason to adjust our nuclear strategy or any indications Russia is preparing a nuclear weapon," Miller said.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, former Belarusian presidential contender and opposition leader, warned it was necessary to do all that is possible to prevent Russia from deploying its tactical nukes in Belarus. She added that Moscow's plans violated Minsk's status as a non-nuclear state.
"We must do all we can to stop Putin's plan of deploying nuclear weapons in Belarus. It would violate our non-nuclear constitutional status and secure Russia's control of Belarus for many years. It would also threaten the security in Ukraine and Europe," Tsikhanouskaya wrote on Twitter.
Putin announced the plan to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus in March. This is the first time Moscow has deployed such weapons outside of the country since the mid-1990s, following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
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