Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said that while the West “reacted hysterically” to Russian authorities’ plans to build nuclear weapons storage facilities in Belarus, it “does not remember” the nuclear weapons deployed in Europe.
“The collective West is somewhat inclined to remember the issue of American nuclear weapons stationed here in Europe around our country, but in this case they are inclined to give such a hysterical response to our plans to build storage facilities for tactical nuclear. weapons on the territory of Belarus” – the Kremlin representative said in an interview with the program “Moscow”. Kremlin. Putin” (published in “Rossiya-1”).
Recalling that the Russian President had recently discussed plans with his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, Peskov said, “This is now a very important issue.”
“We are seeing a very limitless reaction from the collective West to the statements made by President Putin,” the spokesperson said.
Earlier, Moscow said that it will deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus at the request of Minsk. As the Russian president emphasized, the US has also been placing nuclear weapons on the territory of its allies for a long time, and in this case we are not talking about arms transfers.
american rules
Mentioning the difference in the approaches of Russia and the USA, Peskov noted that the former is guided by international law, while the latter is guided by interests that are unclear by whom.
“Americans are calling on everyone to live by the rules, and we are calling on everyone to live by the law, by international law. “These are different things because the law is universal and someone makes the rules,” he said.
According to a Kremlin spokesman, the United States is confident that “everyone should dance to their own tune” and be guided by these rules, which are in Washington’s interest. “This is the difference [между подходами]’, Peskov summed up.
Minsk agreements
In an interview, the presidential press secretary also touched on the issue of the Minsk agreements signed in 2014. Peskov believes that the reaction of Western countries to these agreements is that the Kiev regime has undone its hands “to slaughter the Russians.” The deception of the countries participating in the negotiations at the time “only made the situation worse.”
“Yes, we were tricked by the Minsk agreements. And this aggravated the situation, inspired the Kiev regime in many ways, freed its hands to organize a Russian massacre in their country, which brought a special military operation closer, ”the Kremlin representative expressed his confidence.
Former President of France, François Hollande, who previously participated in the signing of the Minsk agreements, said that their aim was to prevent escalation of the conflict, achieve a ceasefire and reduce the number of possible victims. Also, the agreements reached in Minsk gave Kiev time to strengthen and transform its army. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke similarly.
“Russia will not allow Belarus to be offended”
Responding to journalist Pavel Zarubin’s question of how much he trusts Russia’s closest ally, Belarus, Peskov said that they will not allow countries to pit enemy states against each other: Minsk will side with Moscow if necessary, and vice versa.
“We have no doubts about that,” the Kremlin spokesperson said.
Like Russia, Belarus is surrounded by “very hostile” countries.
According to Peskov, old approaches to securing Russia and Belarus are outdated “in light of changing circumstances and new threats.” Therefore, the Security Concept of the Union State has been prepared.
“New threats have emerged. These threats, which were previously veiled, are now already coming to the fore, all masks have been torn, and therefore it is necessary to position our stance against everything that is happening already accordingly, ”the Kremlin spokesman said.
As the spokesperson pointed out, the new Concept will reflect the key tasks of interaction between Moscow and Minsk amid growing tensions at their external borders and harsh sanctions.