"I would like to immediately note that the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus was a response to the many years of destabilizing nuclear policy of NATO and Washington, as well as to the fundamental changes that have recently taken place in key areas of European security," Aleksey Polishchuk, the head of the Russian foreign ministry's second department for the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, told Sputnik.
Polishchuk emphasized that the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus is a forced containment measure, designed to ensure the security of Belarus, which has a common defense space with Russia.
"In this regard, the hypothetical withdrawal of Russian tactical nuclear weapons from the territory of Belarus will be possible only if the United States and NATO abandon their destructive course of purposefully undermining the security of Russia and Belarus. This stipulates the complete withdrawal of all American nuclear weapons to the territory of the United States with the elimination of the corresponding infrastructure in Europe," Polishchuk said.
In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow had transferred the first part of the nuclear warheads to Belarus and would complete the task of moving tactical nuclear weapons by the end of the year. Putin said the deployment was an element of deterrence and a signal to those thinking of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia.