US President Joe Biden told reporters on Friday, before he left Washington for Camp David, that he had an "extremely negative" reaction to reports that Russia had decided to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
"We have noted increasingly frequent comments in recent days coming from White House and State Department concerning the Russia-Belarus military-nuclear cooperation. They once again accused us of ‘irresponsible and provocative’ behavior," the Russian embassy said in a statement, adding that "it is the sovereign right of Russia and Belarus to ensure their security by means we deem necessary amidst of a large-scale hybrid war unleashed by Washington against us."
The embassy emphasized that the recent measures with regard to nuclear weapons are fully consistent with Russia’s international legal obligations.
"Before blaming others, Washington could use some introspection. The United States has been for decades maintaining a large arsenal of its nuclear weapons in Europe. Together with its NATO allies it participates in nuclear sharing arrangements and trains for scenarios of nuclear weapons use against our country," the Russian embassy said.
On Thursday, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and his Belarusian counterpart, Viktor Khrenin, signed documents defining the procedure for keeping Russian non-strategic nuclear weapons in a special storage facility on the territory of Belarus.
On the same day, Lukashenko said that the transfer of nuclear ammunition had begun within the framework of agreements with Russia on the stationing of tactical nuclear weapons in the republic.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on March 25 that Moscow and Minsk had agreed on the deployment of Russia's tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, which does not violate Russia's nuclear non-proliferation commitments. On April 2, Russian Ambassador to Belarus Boris Gryzlov said that nuclear weapons in Belarus would be stationed closer to the western borders of the union state.