17:05, 9 June 2023

YEREVAN, JUNE 9, ARMENPRESS. The deployment of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus will begin as soon as adaptation work at the relevant storage facilities is completed, around the first week of July, RT reported citing Russian President Vladimir Putin as saying at a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart on Friday.

“Everything is going according to plan,” Putin told President Alexander Lukashenko, adding that on July 7-8 “the preparation of the relevant facilities will be completed and we will immediately begin measures related to the deployment of the relevant types of weapons on your territory.”

In late March, Putin announced that Russia would place its tactical weapons in Belarus in response to the UK’s decision to provide Kiev with depleted uranium munitions. The US and UK have insisted that uranium shells were “a commonplace munition” that “has been in use for decades.”

Washington and its allies in Europe have responded with outrage to the move, calling it an “irresponsible escalation and a threat to European security” and have warned that they will apply sanctions unless Minsk refuses to host Russian tactical weapons.