At the same time, he announced that Russia will begin deploying tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus on July 7 or 8.
To recall, Putin announced on March 25 that Moscow will deploy tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus, a country on the border of the European Union. The two neighboring countries are formally part of a “common state” and have been in talks for years about further integration, a process that accelerated last year after Minsk allowed Moscow to use Belarusian territory to send troops into Ukraine.
Belarus borders Lithuania and Latvia to the north, and Poland to the west, which are respectively part of NATO’s eastern flank. The US and Ukraine’s other allies have expressed concern over Russia’s deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, which US President Joe Biden called “worrisome”.
