Belarus President Alyaksandr Lukashenka said that "several dozen Russian nuclear weapons" were deployed in Belarus, a move that has raised concerns in the West that Moscow's war against Ukraine could spread.
Speaking at the All-Belarusian People's Assembly in Minsk that was broadcast live on YouTube on April 25, Lukashenka, a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said the gathering had unanimously adopted a new military doctrine that considers the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons on Belarusian soil as a strategic deterrent.
Belarus has provided logistical support to Russia since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Since then, Moscow has moved tactical nuclear weapons into Belarus -- the first relocation of such warheads outside Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union.
NATO has called the move "dangerous and irresponsible."
Lukashenka called on the West to "end the standoff with Russia by calling it a draw," which would spur the peace process and end the conflict in Ukraine.
"Otherwise Ukraine stops existing," he said.
