Russian diplomat says removal of nukes from Belarus conditional on withdrawal of US nukes from Europe

June 19, BPN. Agreements between Minsk and Moscow on the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus are of unlimited duration, Alexei Polishchuk of the Russian foreign ministry told TASS.

Russia may remove nuclear arms from Belarus if the United States and NATO stop undermining the security and sovereignty of Russia and Belarus, he said.

“This step should be preceded by the complete withdrawal of all American nuclear weapons to the territory of the US and the elimination of the relevant infrastructure in Europe,” he added.

Russia placed nuclear weapons in Belarus because of NATO’s “aggressive policy,” the diplomat said. Moscow and Minsk also had to respond to the Western support of Kyiv and refusal to respect “legitimate security demands,” he noted.

Alaksandr Łukašenka said last week that he would be ready to use nuclear weapons “immediately” and without hesitation in response to aggression against his country. On June 13, he said that a part of the Russian nuclear arsenal had been delivered from Russia to Belarus but admitted that the deployment was proceeding at a slow pace and Belarus has not yet received all “bombs and missiles.”