Putin: Russia to send Iskander-M complexes to Belarus over coming months
During the coming months, Russia will relocate some of its Iskander-M tactical missile complexes to Belarus – as informed by Russian President Vladimir Putin during his meeting with President Aleksandr Lukashenko, BelTA reports
Speaking about security issues, the Russian leader emphasised that Americans keep 200 nuclear tactical ammunition (mostly atomic bombs) in six European countries that are members of the North Atlantic Alliance. "257 aircraft have been prepared for their possible use – not only American, but also of the states I have mentioned,” the Russian leader explained.
"Is there any base of the kind in Russia?” Aleksandr Lukashenko asked, and the President of Russia replied, “There are none in Russia.”
Vladimir Putin also commented on the Belarusian leader’s remark that tit for tat measures could be applied in response to the US actions, “We could, but we probably should not respond, there is no need for that. Meanwhile, I fully agree with you that we simply must take care of our security, the security of the Union State and probably other CSTO states as well."
"With this in view, I propose the following," the Russian President continued. “The Belarusian army has a fairly large grouping of SU-25 aircraft in service. They could be upgraded, but this modernisation should be carried out at Russian aircraft facilities (we will jointly agree on how this will be done), and pilots should be trained accordingly. This is the first point.”
"The second point is the following. As we have agreed, you raised the issue, and our decision has been made: we will send Iskander-M tactical missile systems to Belarus during the coming months. As you know, they can use both ballistic and cruise missiles, with conventional and nuclear warheads,” Vladimir Putin added, also proposing to order the two states’ defence ministers and general staff heads to work out all the relevant details.
"Yes. I absolutely agree," Aleksandr Lukashenko replied.
