Vladimir Putin warns of the deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus

Russian President Vladimir Putin has reached an agreement with neighboring Belarus to station nuclear weapons on its territory, Russian news agency Tass reports, citing a statement from the Russian president. "Such an action would not violate agreements on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons," Putin said, noting that the US has stationed nuclear weapons on the territory of its European allies. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has long raised the issue of deploying nuclear weapons in the country, which borders Poland, Putin said, according to Reuters. "Russia will complete the construction of a nuclear weapons storage facility in Belarus by July 1," Putin said. In the same time, The Russian president has warned that he will use depleted uranium shells in Ukraine if Kiev receives shells of this type from the West. There have been no shortage of reactions, neither from Ukraine, nor from the USA. "We have seen no reason to change our strategic nuclear posture, nor any indication that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon," State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said. He added that Russia and Belarus have discussed this movement of arms before, having made numerous statements last year. While the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Oleksiy Danilov, has stated that this is a step towards the internal destabilization of the country. " Putin's statement maximizes the level of negative perception and public rejection of Russia and Putin in Belarusian society. The Kremlin took Belarus hostage," he wrote on Twitter.