"If nuclear weapons are indeed deployed on the territory of our neighboring countries, then tougher steps can be taken," Makei said in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper.
When asked whether "tougher steps" mean the deployment of nuclear arms on the territory of Belarus, Makei said that "no one can rule anything out nowadays, so I believe that our leaders have discussed such options as well."
Polish President Andrzej Duda has recently told Gazeta Polska that the absence of nuclear weapons in his country was a problem, and the issue of deploying US nuclear weapons in Poland was open. At the same time, he believes that Poland could take part in the Nuclear Sharing program. Under this program, European NATO states host and store US nuclear weapons.
On October 6, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that Poland had long ago agreed with the United States on the deployment of nuclear weapons arsenals on its territory.
Later in the day, State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said that Washington had no plans to deploy nuclear weapons on territories of NATO members that joined the alliance after 1997