On May 25, defence ministers of Russia and Belarus signed documents on the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory. On June 13, self-proclaimed President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko asked Vladimir Putin to return nuclear weapons to Minsk and ready to use them without hesitation in case of aggression against Belarus.
The Permanent Representative of the Republic of Lithuania to the United Nations, Rytis Paulauskas, has flagged up that this violates international law.
„The deployment of any kind of nuclear weapons in Belarus goes against Russia’s and Belarus’ international commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. In particular, after blatantly violating the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances to Ukraine, Russia would also be in breach of the similar Memorandum on Security Assurances in connection with Belarus. The Budapest Memorandum committed Belarus to eliminate all nuclear weapons from its territory. It also committed Russia to respect a non-nuclear Belarus,” he said.
The UN Security Council and other relevant international bodies should remain focused on this issue, and Lithuania continues consultations with its strategic partners.
