The self-proclaimed president of Belarus Oleksandr Lukashenko advised those willing to obtain nuclear weapons to join the Union State of Russia and Belarus. In Kazakhstan, they said that they "appreciated the joke."
This is stated on the website of the President of Kazakhstan.
The public dispute began on May 24 at the meeting of the second Eurasian Economic Forum. Then the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev criticized the Union State of Russia and Belarus.
"That is, a unique precedent or phenomenon has been created in world political history. Creation of a state according to the formula "two countries — one state" with a single political, legal, military, economic, currency, cultural, humanitarian space, with a single union government, with a single union parliament. And even nuclear weapons are one for two now," he noted.
According to him, other countries of the Eurasian Economic Union, such as Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, have a different level of integration — and this is a problem that needs to be "considered."
Subsequently, Lukashenko reacted to this criticism from Tokayev. He stated that Russia will provide nuclear weapons to all countries that join the Union State.
"If someone is worried, I donʼt think that Kasym Tokayev is worried about this, but if suddenly, then no one is against Kazakhstan and other countries having the same close relations as we have with the Russian Federation. Itʼs very simple. Belarus should enter into an alliance with Russia, and thatʼs all: there will be nuclear weapons against everyone," he explained.
After that, Tokayev himself commented on Lukashenkaʼs statement. He noted that he "appreciated his joke". But Tokayev emphasized that Kazakhstan does not need nuclear weapons and will abide by international agreements, including the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
- On May 25, the defense ministers of Belarus and Russia Viktor Khrenin and Serhiy Shoigu signed documents on the deployment of non-strategic nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory. Thus, Russia will place tactical nuclear weapons in a special storage facility in Belarus and only it will be able to control them. According to Khrenin, the agreement is "an effective response to the aggressive policy of countries unfriendly to us.”
- Russian dictator Putin said that Russia plans to finish building a special storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus on July 1 and has already handed over the Iskander missile complex capable of carrying such weapons to the Belarusian army.
- According to him, Lukashenko has long raised the issue of placing Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. Putin says that the US has long deployed such weapons in a number of countries, so there is "nothing unusual" in Belarusʼ request.