The deployment of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus will begin immediately after the preparation of facilities for it is completed on July 7-8, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko.
"Everything goes as planned. On July 7-8 the preparation of the relevant facilities will be completed, then we will immediately launch actions to deploy relevant weapons on your [Belarus] territory," the Russian head of state said.
In addition, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Friday that Russia has notified all member states of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) of its decision to withdraw from it.
Earlier, the Russian president signed a law denouncing the CFE Treaty.
The Foreign Ministry noted that Finland's accession to NATO and the ongoing procedures for admitting Sweden to the alliance were the "final straw" that made it necessary for Russia to withdraw from the CFE Treaty.
In March, Putin explained that Russia was not transferring nuclear weapons to Belarus per se, but was doing what the United States had been doing for decades: "teaching their (allies') crews, their pilots to use this type of weaponry if necessary."
Lukashenko stated that if necessary, he could negotiate with the Russian president to bring strategic nuclear weapons into the republic.