Belarus claims it was "forced" to agree to host Russian tactical nuclear weapons on its territory in response to what it called "unprecedented political, economic, and information pressure" from the West.
A statement placed on the website of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry on March 28 accused the United States, Britain, and the European Union of "direct and blatant interference into the internal affairs of an independent state aiming to derail the geopolitical course and change the internal political order of Belarus."
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The statement comes three days after Russian President Vladimir Putin said he had reached agreement with Alyaksandr Lukashenka, the authoritarian ruler of Belarus, to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, which borders NATO and EU member states Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia, as well Russia and Ukraine.
Lukashenka has become an international pariah since claiming victory in an August 2020 presidential election that the opposition and West says was rigged.
His subsequent brutal crackdown on dissent spurred the European Union, United Kingdom, United States, and many other Western nations to impose crippling sanctions on Minsk and most of Lukashenka's regime.
Amid the growing international isolation, Lukashenka has turned to traditional ally Russia for support. In return, he has also allowed Moscow to use Belarus as a staging area for launching the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Foreign Ministry statement said that in the face of such actions by the West, "Belarus has to undertake responsive actions to strengthen its own security and defense capabilities."
When announcing the move, Putin said Russia was building a storage facility in Belarus and that Moscow would not be transferring control of the weapons to Minsk authorities.
The Belarus Foreign Ministry said the move fits "tightly in accordance with international law" and doesn't contradict the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), though Western leaders have condemned it.
Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign policy chief, on March 26 called the move "an irresponsible escalation and threat to European security" and warned that Minsk faces possible further sanctions if it hosts the weapons.
"The announcement of the deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus will certainly lead to the announcement of additional sanctions. The level of sanctions will be much more severe for the Lukashenka regime," Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said during a news conference in Bucharest on March 28.
NATO, meanwhile, said it is "closely monitoring the situation" and accused Moscow of "consistently" breaking arms-control commitments, including its recent suspension of the New START treaty."
The White House has also said it is monitoring the situation, though it saw no immediate reason to adjust its nuclear stance nor any indications Russia is preparing to use such weapons.
Military experts told RFE/RL that Putin's announcement was just as much a political card being played as it was a military move.
"The placement of the nuclear weapons in Belarus, in the ongoing situation, is blackmail targeting not only NATO but Ukraine as well. The signal is sent to make Europeans worry, to scale down their assistance to Ukraine. And it is a warning to Ukraine -- if you want to shoot down our jets based in Belarus, remember, there is a nuclear option," Russian military expert Pavel Luzin said.
According to Luzin, Lukashenka may not have taken into account that any placement of nuclear arms in his country will prolong the presence of Russian troops in Belarus.
"Since late 2021, Russian troops have been in Belarus temporarily. After [nuclear arms] depots appear in Belarus, Russian troops will stay in the country on a permanent basis," Luzin said.
Meanwhile, Pavel Podvig, a senior research fellow at the UN Institute for Disarmament Research, told RFE/RL that "it is unlikely that Russian nuclear weapons will appear in Belarus" as there are no proper facilities to keep such weapons there.
"As far as I understand, [the statement's] goal was mostly political -- to demonstrate the strengthening of the alliance between Belarus and Russia. There was no military expediency in it," Podvig said.
The NPT is a landmark pact aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology. Signed by more than 190 countries, it entered into force in 1970.