Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday that "several dozen" Russian tactical nuclear weapons had been deployed in Belarus, Russia's TASS news agency said, under an agreement announced last year by Lukashenko and President Vladimir Putin.

Russian ally Belarus said last June it had started taking delivery of the weapons, the first time that Russia has deployed nuclear missiles in a foreign country since the Soviet era.

Also, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday that any nuclear weapons deployed to Poland would become legitimate targets in the event of an armed conflict with the NATO military alliance.

Russia will make NATO nuclear weapons in Poland one of its primary targets if they are deployed there, the TASS news agency cited Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying Thursday.

"Moves in this direction will not provide greater security (for Poland or other nations that host such weapons)," TASS quoted Ryabkov as saying.