Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said today that his country has deployed "several dozen" Russian tactical nuclear weapons, Reuters reported, noting that this was the result of an agreement announced last year by Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin, writes BTA.
In June of last year, Belarus announced that it had begun accepting Russian weapons, marking the first time Russia has deployed nuclear missiles to a foreign country since the Soviet era.
Earlier today, Lukashenko said that a stalemate had occurred on the Ukrainian frontline and that conditions made it possible to start peace talks, specifying that the preliminary texts discussed between Russian and Ukrainian officials in Turkey in the first weeks of the war , can serve as a starting point for negotiations.
Tass quoted Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as saying there could be an "apocalypse" if Russia uses nuclear weapons in response to the West's actions. Moscow has repeatedly warned that the West's support for Ukraine puts it in direct confrontation with Russia, which could lead to a nuclear conflict.
Lukashenko also stated that around 120,000 Ukrainian military personnel were stationed near the Belarusian border, specifying that the probability of incidents was quite high.