Kremlin says won’t change plans on Belarus nuclear weapons

MOOSCOW (AFP): The Kremlin on Monday said Western criticism would not change plans announced by President Vladimir Putin to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in neighbouring Belarus.

The West condemned Putin’s weekend announcement on placing the weapons in EU and NATO-bordering Belarus, triggering calls for new sanctions on Moscow.

Ukraine said it was seeking an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over the move.

“Such a reaction of course cannot influence Russian plans,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Speaking during a televised interview on Saturday, Putin said Moscow would station the tactical nuclear weapons “without violating our international agreements on nuclear non-proliferation”.

He said this was “nothing unusual”.

“The United States has been doing this for decades. They have long placed their tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of their allies,” Putin said.

The Russian leader said he spoke to his Belarusian ally Alexander Lukashenko and that they had “agreed to do the same”.

Putin’s announcement came over a year into his grinding offensive in Ukraine.