The United States “strongly” condemned the agreement between Russia and Belarus on the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory, but saw no reason to adjust the configuration of its own nuclear forces.
“We strongly condemn this arrangement,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters. “This is another example of Russia’s irresponsible behavior that we have seen since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine began more than a year ago.”
Miller recalled that the use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons in this conflict “will have serious consequences”.
“But in relation to these reports, I will only add that we see no reason to adjust our own configuration of nuclear forces or any signs that Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons,” Miller said.
On Wednesday, the defense ministers of Belarus and Russia at a meeting in Minsk signed documents on the procedure for the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus.
According to the Belarusian state agency BelTA, Viktor Khrenin and Sergei Shoigu also discussed “the military-political situation and issues of military-technical cooperation between defense departments”.
Shoigu called Belarus a “true ally and reliable partner”, but noted that we are not talking about the transfer of nuclear weapons to Belarus: the decision on their use lies with Moscow.
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