Ukraine wants urgent UNSC meet over Russia’s nuke deployment plans in Belarus

Ukraine on Sunday (March 26) called for convening an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) over Russia's decision to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. Kyiv has already said that Belarus has been held 'hostage' by Russia.

"Ukraine expects effective actions from the United Kingdom, China, the United States and France to counteract the Kremlin's nuclear blackmail... We demand that an extraordinary meeting of the UN Security Council be immediately convened for this purpose," the Ukrainian foreign ministry said.

Russia on Saturday made clear its decision to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, a country the ruling regime of which is a strong ally of Russia. President Putin himself made the announcement.

Putin said the move to deploy tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus was "nothing unusual."

"The United States has been doing this for decades. They have long placed their tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of their allies," Putin said.

Putin said he spoke to Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko and said "we agreed to do the same."

Watch | Russia to deploy tactical nuclear weapons, US reacts cautiously to move

Russia's announcement has attracted criticism but the US has reacted cautiously.

"We have not seen any reason to adjust our own strategic nuclear posture nor any indications Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon. We remain committed to the collective defence of the NATO alliance," a senior official in US administration was quoted by the Reuters.

Germany was comparatively vocal in its condemnation of Russian decision. Berlin said that the Russian announcement was "another attempt at nuclear intimidation by Russia", as quoted by AFP.

"The comparison made by President Putin to nuclear sharing in NATO is misleading and does not justify the step announced by Russia," said an unnamed German official in the foreign office as quoted by AFP.

(With inputs from agencies)

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