Russia’s training of Belarusian pilots to fly aircraft carrying specific munitions and the planned deployment of tactical nuclear warheads on the territory of Belarus have become a “forced reaction” to national security risks, said Valentin Rybakov, permanent representative of Belarus to the UN, at a meeting of the organization’s Security Council.
According to the press service of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, among the reasons Rybakov called “long-term political, economic, financial and informational pressure, trade, visa, banking and other bans against the government, legal entities and individuals of Belarus from the EU and NATO.”
“Such bans and restrictions represent a direct and gross interference in the internal affairs of an independent state and have a completely obvious goal – a change in the geopolitical course and a change in the internal political system of Belarus,” he said. In addition, the diplomat added that “unilateral measures” in politics and the economy are accompanied by the buildup of military potential on the territory of NATO member countries near the borders of Belarus.
On March 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, saying that “the relevant question” had long been raised by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. On March 31, Lukashenko announced that Minsk was also ready to accept strategic nuclear weapons, including intercontinental ballistic missiles, on its territory.
Source: Rosbalt
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