The two Muslim neighbours were involved in unprecedented tit-for-tat military strikes this year
Russia will move its tactical nuclear weapons close to the western borders of Belarus, the Russian envoy to Minsk said on Sunday, placing them at Nato's threshold in a move likely to further escalate Moscow's standoff with the West. In one of the Russia's most pronounced nuclear signals since the beginning of its attack on Ukraine 13 months ago, President Vladimir Putin said on March 26 that Russia will station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
The two Slav neighbours are formally part of a "union state" and have been in talks for years to integrate further, a process that has accelerated after Minsk allowed Moscow to use Belarusian territory to send troops into Ukraine last year.
The weapons "will be moved to the western border of our union state and will increase the possibilities to ensure security," Russian ambassador to Belarus, Boris Gryzlov, told Belarusian state television.
"This will be done despite the noise in Europe and the United States."
Gryzlov did not specify where the weapons will be stationed, but confirmed that a storage facility will be completed, as ordered by Putin, by July 1 and then moved to the west of Belarus.
Belarus borders to the north with Lithuania and Latvia and to west with Poland, all part of Nato's Eastern flank that has been bolstered with additional troops and military equipment following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The US and Kyiv's other allies have said they were concerned about the possibility that Russia would send tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, with President Joe Biden saying it was "worrisome."
President Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday that Belarus would also allow Russia to put intercontinental nuclear missiles there too if necessary.
The two Muslim neighbours were involved in unprecedented tit-for-tat military strikes this year
Attacks online include insults, sexist and sexual comments, and physical threats, including death threats to journalists and their families
AI tools imitating human intelligence are widely used in newsrooms around the world to transcribe sound files, summarise texts and translate
Of these, 90 families, or 468 people, returned over the Torkham crossing, according to the Taliban-led Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation
It allows American spy agencies to surveil foreigners abroad using data drawn from US digital infrastructure such as internet service providers
The incident happened shortly after jury selection for the hush-money trial was completed
The neighbourhood around the consulate was closed after the 60-year-old entered the premises, claiming to be armed with an explosive vest
The first of seven phases, Friday's vote covered 166 million voters in 102 constituencies across 21 states and territories