The agreement between Moscow and Minsk on the deployment of Russian nuclear warheads on the territory of Belarus is a step that “will lead to a new extremely dangerous escalation”. On this subject declared Josep Borrell, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs.
“This decision is contrary to the obligations assumed by Russia in accordance with the Budapest Memorandum, according to which Belarus has eliminated all nuclear weapons on its territory, as well as the Joint Declaration of the Leaders of the Five Nuclear-Weapon States. of January 3, 2022, which notes that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be started”, declared the head of European diplomacy in a press release.
Borrell, on behalf of the EU, urged Russia to comply with these obligations, as well as the Belarusian authorities to immediately stop supporting Russian military actions against Ukraine and to “refuse decisions that can only ‘increase tension in the region and undermine the sovereignty of Belarus’. ”
“Any attempt to escalate the situation further will be followed by a decisive and coordinated response,” he concluded.
On the afternoon of May 25, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced that the transfer of non-strategic nuclear weapons from Russia to Belarus had already begun. When asked if there were non-strategic nuclear weapons in the republic, he replied: “Maybe”.
The head of state clarified that the republic should prepare storage sites “and so on”, and after that the movement of nuclear weapons began. According to Lukashenka, this process is taking place within the framework of the agreements with Moscow on the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
The Belarusian president also assured reporters that Russia would not have to worry about the safety of nuclear weapons.
“It’s not even discussed. Don’t worry about nuclear weapons. We are responsible for them. These are serious matters. Everything will be fine here too,” he said.
At the end of March, Vladimir Putin informed that Russia will complete the construction of a tactical nuclear weapons storage facility on the territory of Belarus on July 1. According to him, Lukashenko has long raised the issue of the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in the country. Putin noted that Moscow will not yet hand over weapons to Minsk, but will place its own on the territory of the country.
He also explained that the reason for the negotiations with Lukashenko on this issue was also the UK’s statement on the transfer of shells containing depleted uranium to Ukraine, because it is “one way or another ‘another related to nuclear technology’.
After that, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, threatened that the EU would impose new sanctions against Russia, saying that the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus would become a threat to European security. Then he noted that Minsk could still stop this.
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