JAKARTA - Ukraine on Sunday strongly criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin's plan to place a tactical nuclear weapon in Belarus, calling for an emergency hearing by the UN Security Council to discuss the move.
President Putin announced the decision on Saturday, saying it would not violate the promise of non-nuclear proliferation and Russia would not hand control over the weapons to Belarus.
In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Kyiv described it as "another provocative step" by Moscow that undermines "the overall international security system".
"Russia has once again emphasized its chronic inability to become the manager in charge of nuclear weapons as a means of preventing and preventing war, not as a means of threat and intimidation," the ministry said.
The ministry demands a Security Council hearing, and calls on Groups Seven (G7) and the European Union to warn Belarus is "extensive consequences" if they decide to receive Russian weapons.
Earlier, President Putin said in a speech on Saturday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko had asked for the placement of the weapon. Minsk has not publicly commented on President Putin's announcement.
Belarusian troops have not officially fought in Ukraine, but Minsk allowed Moscow to use Belarusian territory to send troops to Ukraine last year. The two countries have close military ties.
"Ukraine calls on all members of the international community to convey to Putin's criminal regime that they cannot accept the next nuclear provocation, to take firm steps to effectively obstruct and prevent the possible use of nuclear weapons by attacking countries," Ukraine said in a statement.
It is known that President Putin likened his plans to the United States which placed its weapons in Europe. This could be the first time Russia has placed such weapons abroad since the mid-1990s
"There's nothing strange here: first, the United States has been doing this for decades. They have long deployed their tactical nuclear weapons in the territory of their allied countries," President Putin told state television.
"We agree that we will do the same, without violating our obligations, I emphasize, without violating our international obligations in terms of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons," said President Putin.
Nuclear weapons "tactic" refer to weapons used for specific purposes on the battlefield, not weapons that have the ability to destroy cities.
"We did not hand over (the weapon to Belarus). And the US did not hand it over to its allies. Basically, we did the same thing as they had been doing for a decade," Putin said.
It is unclear how many such weapons Russia has, considering this is an area that is still shrouded in Cold War confidentiality.
President Putin did not say when the weapons would be transferred to Belarus, which borders three NATO, Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia member states. He said Russia would complete construction of storage facilities there on July 1.
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