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| A believer holds a candle as she prays at a sarcophagus with holy relics in the underground labyrinth of the Monastery of the Caves, also known as Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, one of the holiest sites of Eastern Orthodox Christians, in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 24. AP-Yonhap |
Kyiv on Sunday said Russia took Minsk as a "nuclear hostage" after President Vladimir Putin announced the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, bringing the arms to a country at the gates of the European Union.
Putin, who has issued thinly veiled warnings that Russia could use nuclear weapons if threatened, said the move was similar to the United States transferring weapons to allies.
"The Kremlin took Belarus as a nuclear hostage," the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, Oleksiy Danilov, wrote on Twitter.
He added that the move was "a step towards the internal destabilization of the country".
On Saturday, Putin announced Russia would station tactical nuclear weapons to neighbor and ally Belarus "without violating our international agreements on nuclear non-proliferation".
Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak on Sunday accused the Russian leader of breaching such obligations.
"(Putin) admits that he is afraid of losing and all he can do is scare" people, Podolyak also said on Twitter.
Strongman Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power in Belarus for almost 30 years, is a key Putin ally.
Back in February 2022, Minsk allowed the Kremlin to launch its invasion of Ukraine from Belarusian territory.
Fears have since risen that Belarus may join its ally's offensive, but Lukashenko said he would do so "only if attacked".
In an interview broadcasted Saturday, Putin said the move to deploy tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus was "nothing unusual".
"The United States has been doing this for decades. They have long placed their tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of their allies," Putin said. (AFP)
