Russia to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus

Russia will deploy tactical nuclear weapons in neighbour and ally Belarus, bringing the arms to a country at the gates of the European Union.

President Vladimir Putin said this to state television on Saturday.

“There is nothing unusual here either: firstly, the United States has been doing this for decades. They have long deployed their tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of their allied countries, Putin said.

The Russian president said he spoke to Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko and said “we agreed to do the same”.

He also said he would deploy depleted uranium ammunition if Kyiv received the controversial weaponry from the West, following a British suggestion that it could supply Ukraine.

Although not unexpected and while he said the move would not violate nuclear non-proliferation promises, it is one of the Russia's most pronounced nuclear signals since the beginning of its invasion of Ukraine 13 months ago.

Putin likened his plans to the US stationing its weapons in Europe and said that Russia would not be transferring control to Belarus. But this could be the first time since the mid-1990s that Russia were to base such weapons outside the country.

The United States - the world's other nuclear superpower - has reacted cautiously to Putin's statement, with a senior administration official saying there were no signs Moscow planned to use its nuclear weapons.