On 25 May, an agreement was signed in Minsk on the procedure for the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

This was reported by Belta.

The agreement was signed by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and his Belarusian counterpart Viktor Khrenin.

Khrenin has called the deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus “a response to unfriendly countries.” He claims that the goal is to protect the western borders of the so-called Union State (of Russia and Belarus – ed.). 

The Belarusian minister mentioned “non-compliance with the security guarantees given to Belarus in the Budapest Memorandum of 5 December, 1994,” as well as “the continuous bellicose rhetoric of the collective West.”

According to him, the government is also considering re-equipping Su-25 aircraft so that it may carry nuclear warheads. Khrenin claims that the Belarusian military has been trained at Russian training grounds and gained practical skills in their operation.

The control over nuclear weapons and the decision to use them remains with Russia.