BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

28/08/2007

Russia is not planning to deploy nuke weapons in Belarus - ambassador

MINSK, August 28 (Itar-Tass) - Russia is not planning to deploy any nuclear weapons on the territory of the Belarus Republic, Russian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Belarus Alexander Surikov told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.

He said his stand on the development of military cooperation between the Belarus Republic and the Russian Federation, explained the day before in a media interview, "was absolutely wrongly interpreted". "Some publications have even quoted something that I had never said," the Ambassador stated.

At the same time, Surikov added that "Russia is, indeed, seriously worried by the U.S. intentions to deploy elements of its ABM system in Eastern Europe". "Adequate retaliation steps may be taken if there were new threats to the security of the Russian Federation and its ally - Belarussia, and the deployment ABM systems in Poland and the Czech Republic is, in fact, such a threat," the Ambassador noted. "Experts, namely diplomats and military men, will have to indicate what concrete measures should be taken. Precisely they will determine what, where and when the possible new menaces can or cannot be opposed," Surikov stated. However, "the Russian Federation has no plans whatsoever to deploy nuclear weapons on the territory of the Belarus Republic," the Russian diplomat stressed.

Source:

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=11821744&PageNum=0