Belarus Will Not Hesitate To Use Nuclear Weapons In Case Of Aggression: President

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday that there will be "no hesitation" when making a decision to use nuclear weapons in response to an aggression against the country

"I think it is unlikely that anyone would want to fight a country that has such weapons. These are weapons of deterrence…God forbid I have to make a decision on the use of these weapons in modern times. But there will be no hesitation as long as there is aggression against us," Lukashenko told journalists during a working trip to Minsk Oblast, according to Belarusian state news agency BelTA.

Lukashenko said the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus was a "necessary" decision so that "not a single foreign soldier sets foot on Belarusian land again," noting that it was his "urgent demand" to Moscow to guarantee his country's security.

Asked about the necessity to coordinate the use of nuclear weapons with Russia as stipulated by the agreement on their deployment, he said it was not "a problem."

"If a war starts, do you think I will look around? I'll pick up the phone, and wherever he is, he will pick it up," he said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"If he calls, I will pick it up any time. It's no problem at all to coordinate launching a strike."

Lukashenko stressed that he did not "request" but "demanded" to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus because "no one has ever fought against a nuclear country, a country that possesses nuclear weapons."

He said Belarus does not need strategic nuclear weapons because he is not going "to fight with America," but the country "has always been a target" of the West."

"They have wanted to tear us to pieces since 2020," he added.

Now Belarus has bombs that are three times more powerful than those used by the US in 1945 on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and also missiles deployed across the country, he noted.

Lukashenko said five or six nuclear weapons storage facilities have been repaired, but there used to be much more in Soviet times, and the authorities plan to restore some of them.

"The weapons will be deployed all over the country. We are not going to keep them in one place," he added.

Separately, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova expressed concern over US plans to expand the deployment of nuclear bombs in more European countries located near the borders of Russia and Belarus.

She said that Moscow reserves the right to take additional steps to ensure the security of Russia and its allies.

"All our actions fully fit into the framework of international law and in no way contradict Russia's international obligations. In this regard, we would like to remind once again that cooperation between Russia and Belarus in the military nuclear sphere, unlike NATO countries, takes place within the framework of the Union State, which has a single territory and a common military doctrine," she said.

In late May, Russia and Belarus's defense ministers signed an agreement on the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus which stipulates terms for keeping them in a special storage facility.Earlier this year, Putin announced that Russia will deploy tactical nuclear weapons and complete the construction of a special storage facility for them in neighboring Belarus.He said the move was in response to growing security risks, stressing that Moscow followed the US, which deployed its tactical nuclear arms in European countries.​​​​​​ -