Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu said on Thursday, during a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart, Viktor Khrenin, that due to "extremely sharp escalation of threats and the activity of joint nuclear NATO missions," Moscow and Minsk are being forced to take retaliatory measures.
The two countries previously inked an agreement on deploying Russian non-strategic nuclear weapons to the territory of Belarus. Shoygu explained that Moscow still has full control over these armaments, including the decision to use them.
The Russian defense minister underlined that the two countries are working together to resist "the collective West, which is waging an essentially undeclared war against our countries."
