Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko offered, during an interview, that nations will be provided with nuclear weapons if they are willing “to join the Union State of Russia and Belarus”.
This comes just days after Lukashenko said that Russia had begun moving nuclear weapons to its territory, which borders the European Union.
The movement and re-stationing of “tactical” nuclear weapons in Belarus led to condemnation from the West and also flared up tensions with The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) nations over the Ukraine conflict.
Media reports have claimed that Lukashenko’s comment came during an interview with Russia’s Pavel Zarubin, which was filmed on Thursday but was released on Sunday on Ukrainska Pravda.
He claimed that any nations who joined the “Union State” pact between Russia and Belarus would be provided with nuclear weapons, calling the prospect a “unique chance to unite”.
As quoted by reports, Lukashenko told Zarubin: “If someone is worried… I don’t think [President of Kazakhstan] Kassym Tokayev is worried about this, but if something suddenly happens, then no one minds Kazakhstan and other countries having the same close relations as we have with the Russian Federation.”
“It’s very simple. [Countries] should join the union of Belarus with Russia, and that’s it: there will be nuclear weapons for everyone,” he added.
For the unversed, Russia and Belarus are formally part of a Union State, which is a borderless union and alliance between the two former Soviet republics.
So far there are details regarding what Lukashenko exactly wanted to say or whether or not there’s a formal plan to invite nations to join the “Union State” of Russia and Belarus.
Russia sending nuclear arms to Belarus
Earlier this week, when reports emerged that Russia was sending nuclear arms to Belarus in the Ukraine fight, Lukashenko said, according to state news agency Belta: “It was necessary to prepare storage sites, and so on. We did all this. Therefore, the movement of nuclear weapons began.”
While promising the safety of those weapons, he said, “This is not even up for discussion. Don’t worry about nuclear weapons. We are responsible for this. These are serious issues. Everything will be alright here.”
Lukashenko, who is a close ally of Putin, has allowed his territory, which borders Ukraine as well as EU and NATO members Poland and Lithuania, to serve as a staging ground for Russia’s Ukraine offensive.
Russia-Ukraine war, which started last year in February when Putin ordered his troops to launch a “special military operation” in the neighbour. Since the start of the war, have accused each other of nuclear war provocation.
(With inputs from agencies)
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