Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko this weekend promised nuclear weapons to any nation that joins an alliance between his country and Russia.
Lukashenko, a strong supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, made the comments during an interview with the state-run Russia 1 channel. The interview was released on Sunday.
Last week, Russia moved ahead with a plan to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. It marked the Kremlin's first deployment of such bombs outside Russia since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.
Lukashenko, who said the warheads were already on the move, told Russia 1, "It's very simple. Join the Union State of Belarus and Russia. That's all: there will be nuclear weapons for everyone."
"I think it's possible," he added. "We need to strategically understand that we have a unique chance to unite."
The Agreement on Establishment of the Union State of Belarus and Russia Treaty, signed in 1999, set up a legal basis for an alliance that spanned economic, information, technology, agriculture, and border security between the two countries, according to the Belarus government website.
Lukashenko defended his country's alliance with Russia.
"No one minds Kazakhstan and other countries having the same close relations that we have with the Russian Federation," he said.
Putin has threatened nuclear escalation since his country's unprovoked February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, took to Twitter after Lukashenko's statements.
"The 'nuclear' statements of Lukashenko (the nominal ruler of Belarus and a VIP-propagandist of the war) directly indicate that the Russian Federation is deliberately 'killing' the concept of global nuclear deterrence and 'burying' the key Global Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. This fundamentally undermines the principles of global security... There can only be one solution: a tough stance of nuclear states; relevant UN/IAEA resolutions; extensive sanctions against Rosatom; systemic financial sanctions against Belarus and ultimately against Russia...," Podolyak tweeted.
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