U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby has assured that Washington has not registered »any movement of tactical nuclear weapons» from Russia to Belarus after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced an agreement with Minsk over the weekend to deploy such weaponry.
Certainly, we have seen no indication that Mr. Putin has made any kind of decision to use weapons of mass destruction, let alone nuclear weapons, inside Ukraine,» Kirby told the media, according to CNN news network.
Nevertheless, the senior U.S. official stressed that the Joe Biden Administration will continue to monitor »very, very closely» the situation in Eastern Europe, especially with regard to the transfer of military capabilities from Russia to neighboring Belarus.
President Putin announced on Saturday an agreement for the deployment of Russian tactical, i.e., short-range, nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus in response to the British announcement of the possible supply of depleted uranium ammunition to Ukraine.
Putin explained that the construction of the tactical nuclear weapons storage facilities in Belarus will be completed by July 1, and stressed that the weaponry would remain under Russian control. He also stressed that the delivery of this type of nuclear weapons does not violate non-proliferation agreements because the United States has had nuclear weapons in other countries for years.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)