Kremlin: West Overreacting to Russian Plan to Station Tactical Nukes in Belarus
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The West is overreacting to Russia's plans to build storage facilities for tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, while forgetting about the presence of US nuclear weapons in Europe, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday.
"This is a very important topic now. We see a very unrestrained reaction from the collective West to the announcements made by (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin. The collective West is somehow not inclined to recall the issue of American nuclear weapons, which are based here in Europe, around our country, but in this case they are prone to react so hysterically to our plans to build storage facilities for tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus," Peskov told the Rossiya 1 broadcaster.
At the end of March, President Vladimir Putin stated that Russian tactical nuclear weapons would be station in Belarus in response to NATO deploying its weaponry close to Russia's borders.
"We agreed that -in this sense, (Belarusian President) Alexander Grigorievich (Lukashenko) is right when he says 'listen, we are your closest allies. Why do the Americans place nukes on their allies' territory?' They also engage, by the way, in the training of allies' pilots to use these weapons if necessary. We have agreed that if necessary, we will do the same thing, without violating our obligations - I would like to emphasize - without violating our international obligations on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons," Putin said, Sputnik reported.
"The United States has been doing this for decades. They have long placed their tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of allied countries, NATO countries, in Europe. In six states, if memory serves: Germany, Turkey, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Greece. There are no nukes in Greece right now, but there is a storage facility," Putin added.
Kremlin stressed the fact that this move does not breach Russia's commitments to the non-proliferation since Moscow will retain control over the nukes. The storage sites for weapons are expected to be finished by July 1.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that he may also consider hosting Russian strategic nuclear weapons if deemed necessary for the protection of the country.