Lukashenko offers nuclear weapons for joining Union State of Russia, Belarus

Alexander Lukashenko said this in an interview released on the state-run Russia 1 channel, CNN reports. 

Lukashenko stated that no one minds Kazakhstan and other countries having the same close relations that Belarus has with the Russian Federation.

“It’s very simple, join the Union State of Belarus and Russia. That’s all: there will be nuclear weapons for everyone,” the self-proclaimed president of Belarus said. 

Following an agreement negotiated by Moscow and Minsk, the Belarusian ruler announced on Thursday that the transfer of some tactical nuclear weapons from Russia to Belarus has commenced. 

“It was necessary to prepare storage sites, and so on. We did all this. Therefore, the movement of nuclear weapons began,” Lukashenko said, according to state news agency Belta.

At the same time, according to the official website, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev called Lukashenko's proposal to deploy Russian nuclear weapons in the country a joke.

In this way, he commented on Lukashenko's advice for Kazakhstan to join the Union State and receive nuclear weapons from Russia.

“The other day, Alexander Lukashenko offered Kazakhstan to join the Union State. I appreciated his joke. I think that there is no need for this, as there are other integration associations, primarily the Eurasian Economic Union,” Tokayev said.

He emphasized that Kazakhstan does not need nuclear weapons, as it adheres to international agreements.

“As for nuclear weapons, we do not need them, as we have joined the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. We remain committed to our obligations under these international documents,” Tokayev emphasized.

Lukashenko's comments on handing out nuclear weapons to like-minded allies are likely to heighten concerns at a time of growing global proliferation and as Moscow threatens the world with its own atomic arsenal as its war against Ukraine falters.

• On May 25, the defense ministers of Russia and Belarus signed a document on the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

• Immediately afterward, Alexander Lukashenko announced the start of the transfer of nuclear weapons to Belarus.