Russian President Vladimir Putin says Moscow has reached agreement to station tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of close ally Belarus, which borders both Russia and Ukraine.
Russia's state-run TASS news agency on March 25 quoted Putin as claiming there was "nothing unusual" about the move and that it did not violate existing nuclear nonproliferation treaties.
"We agreed with [Belarusian ruler Alyaksandr] Lukashenka that we would place tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus without violating the nonproliferation regime," TASS quoted the Russian leader as saying.
"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," he said. "We agreed that we will do the same.”
Putin added that Russia was building a storage facility in Belarus and that Moscow would not be transferring control of the weapons to Minsk authorities.
The White House later said it was aware of Putin’s announcement and was monitoring the situation. It said it did not see any immediate reason to adjust its nuclear stance nor any indications Russia is preparing to use such weapons.
The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) is a landmark pact aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, signed by more than 190 countries and entered into force in 1970.
Putin on March 25 also threatened to deploy depleted uranium ammunition to its military fighting in Ukraine if the West sent such munitions to Kyiv. A British official recently suggested London might do so.
"Russia, of course, has what it needs to answer. Without exaggeration, we have hundreds of thousands of such shells. We have not used them yet," Putin told Russian television.
Militaries use depleted uranium munitions for their armor-piercing capability in battles against tanks and armored vehicles.