Calay News
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu remarked that with the deployment of non-strategic nuclear arsenals on Belarusian soil, Moscow is not transferring control over their use to Minsk. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu announced Thursday at a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Viktor Khrenin in Minsk that some Belarusian aircraft are already adapted to carry tactical nuclear weapons.
During the initialing of documents regulating the storage of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, Shoigu noted that Belarusian pilots received the necessary training and recalled that Minsk also received a tactical-operational Iskander-M complex, capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear warhead missiles. “Due to extremely serious threats and the activity of NATO joint nuclear missions, we are forced to take responsive measures in the nuclear-military sphere. In accordance with the decision of our commanders-in-chief [Russian President Vladimir Putin and his counterpart Alexander Lukashenko], work was organized to deploy non-strategic nuclear weapons of the Russian Federation on the territory of the Republic of Belarus,” the Russian Defense Minister said.
At the same time, Shoigu stressed that with the deployment of tactical nuclear arsenals on Belarusian soil, Moscow does not transfer control over their use to Minsk, so it is the Russian side that decides whether to use them or not.
The Russian defense minister stressed that the measures taken by Moscow and Minsk “conform to all legal international commitments” that are in force.
Moreover, the Russian minister noted that both countries can take “additional measures” to ensure the security of the Union State between the two nations and react “to the politico-military situation.”
