Russia is taking measures to strengthen the security of the Union State in response to NATO's actions. According to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Belarus has been given equipment capable of using nuclear weapons.
"Part of the Belarusian assault aircraft received the ability to strike at enemy targets with nuclear weapons," Shoigu said.
In addition, according to him, the Armed Forces of Belarus were transferred the Iskander-M operational-tactical missile system.
"It can use missiles in both conventional and nuclear versions. On April 3, at one of the Russian training grounds, Belarusian calculations began training on the procedure for its use to protect the Union State," the head of the Russian Defense Ministry added.
- Conference call under the leadership of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Sergei Shoigu stressed that these are retaliatory measures to uphold the security of the Union State, since NATO is carrying out a set of measures to increase the combat readiness of the Joint Armed Forces, as well as intensifying training, combat and intelligence activities near the borders of Russia and Belarus. In addition, Finland becomes a member of the alliance.
"Of course, all this creates risks of a significant expansion of the conflict, but it will not affect the outcome of the special operation," the minister said.
At the same time, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Peskov, also pointed out that Finland's accession to NATO forces Moscow to take countermeasures to ensure its security.
"The Kremlin believes that this is another aggravation of the situation, that NATO expansion is an encroachment on our security, the interests of the Russian Federation. That's how we perceive it. We will take countermeasures on how to ensure our own security in tactical and strategic terms," the Kremlin spokesman said.
According to him, countermeasures will be such that the Russian side "considers necessary."
Earlier, Vladimir Putin in an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin on the TV channel "Russia 24" announced plans to deploy Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. So, according to him, on April 3, training of aircraft crews should begin, and by July 1, the construction of a special storage of nuclear weapons will be completed.
At the same time, the head of state recalled that the United States has long kept its nuclear arsenals in NATO countries (Germany, Turkey, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy), and the US military trains European pilots in the use of tactical nuclear weapons.
"We agreed that we would do the same without violating our obligations. I want to emphasize this - without violating my international obligations on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons (NPT. - RT)," Putin said.
"We inflict high-precision strikes on Ukrainian military facilities"
During the conference call, Sergei Shoigu also said that Russian troops are purposefully destroying Western weapons and military equipment sent to Ukraine.
"We inflict high-precision strikes on Ukrainian military facilities. As a result, the production of a number of weapons samples was disrupted, as well as the supply of ammunition and fuel to the groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, "the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation said.
According to Shoigu, since the beginning of 2023, 59 M-777 artillery systems, 13 Paladin self-propelled artillery installations, 14 HIMARS launchers of American production, as well as 30 self-propelled artillery installations from Poland, Germany, France and the Czech Republic have been hit.
At the same time, the United States and its allies intend in the near future to transfer to Ukraine more than 200 Western-made tanks, more than 400 modern armored combat vehicles, Shoigu said. The Armed Forces of Ukraine receive long-range weapons, including rockets with an increased range of up to 150 km. In addition, the West is considering the possibility of transferring to Kiev operational-tactical ATACMS missiles with a launch range of up to 300 km and tactical F-16 fighters.