The placement of nuclear weapons in Belarus will begin after July 7-8

The placement of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus will begin immediately after the completion of preparations for it on July 7-8. This was stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting with the authoritarian leader of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko.

At the end of May, Lukashenko announced that the transfer of nuclear weapons to Belarus had already begun. However, he did not answer then whether the weapon was already in the country.

On May 25, the Ministers of Defense of Russia and Belarus, Sergey Shoigu and Viktor Khrenin, signed documents in Minsk defining the procedure for keeping Russian nuclear weapons in a special storage facility on Belarusian territory. At the same time, Shoigu noted that it is not a matter of transferring nuclear weapons to Belarus: the decision on their use remains with Moscow.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus in March 2023. The USA and NATO countries condemned the decision of the Russian and Belarusian authorities – taking into account the ongoing large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the allied relations between Moscow and Minsk and the assistance provided by the Belarusian authorities to the Russian army.