Lukashenko says Putin will complete sending nuclear weapons to Belarus before the end of the year

MADRID, 6 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, indicated on Thursday that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, plans to complete the shipment of nuclear warheads to Belarus before the end of the year.

"The places to store nuclear weapons have already been prepared for a month and most of the warheads have already been transferred to Belarus. In the remainder of the year we will finish transferring them all," Lukashenko asserted in a message broadcast through Telegram.

Last March, Putin announced that he had agreed with Lukashenko on the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in the country "without violating the international commitments" acquired by the parties.

As Putin maintains, it is not a question of a transfer of nuclear weapons to Belarus, which could mean a violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but a change of location of the same.

In this sense, he has maintained that the United States has spent years "placement of this type of weapon in NATO countries", such as Germany, Belgium, Italy or Turkey. The first Russian weapons of this type arrived in Belarus in June.