Belarus has stated that by agreeing to deploy Russian tactical nuclear weapons on its territory, it allegedly took "forced retaliatory actions" to strengthen its security and defence capabilities and was not violating the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus reports.
"Military cooperation between Belarus and Russia is carried out in strict accordance with international law.
The training of Belarusian pilots capable of flying aircraft with specific munitions, the modernisation of such aircraft, as well as the deployment of nuclear warheads on the territory of Belarus without transferring control over them to Minsk, as well as access to relevant technologies, in no way contradict the provisions of Articles I and II of the NPT."
The ministry also added that this allegedly "is not an innovation in the field of military cooperation between non-nuclear and nuclear states".
In their words, NATO "has long had a practice of joint nuclear missions", and more than 150 US tactical nuclear weapons are allegedly stored on the territory of European member states and over 250 aircraft have been prepared for their possible use.
At the same time, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry stated that it "called and continues to call on all partners" to change "confrontational rhetoric and the spiral of the arms race" to "constructive and mutually respectful dialogue aimed at strengthening the global and regional security architecture, multilateral mechanisms for disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control, in particular in the nuclear sphere".
