Vladimir Putin said that Russia has struck a deal with Belarus to station tactical nuclear weapons on its territory but won't violate non-proliferation agreements.
The Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, had raised the issue of stationing tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, which borders Poland, Putin told state television.
He said that the United States has been doing this for decades and there is nothing unusual here. They have deployed their tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of their allied countries.
We agreed that we will do the same without violating our obligations, I emphasise, without violating our international obligations on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. Putin said that Russia will have completed the construction of a storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus by 1 July, and that Moscow would not actually transfer control of the arms to Minsk.
Russia has stationed 10 aircraft in Belarus capable of carrying tactical nuclear weapons, he said, adding that Moscow already had a number of Iskander tactical missile systems that can be used to launch nuclear weapons.