Russia has already stationed nuclear weapons in Belarus as a warning to the West, Vladimir Putin has said.
The Russian President made the comments after speaking at the International Economic Forum in St Petersburg on Friday.
Belarus, under the control of Putin’s close ally Aleksandr Lukashenko, has supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, allowing troops to be stationed there before they launched their offensive in February 2022.
“As you know we were negotiating with our ally, Belarusian President Lukashenko, that we would move a part of these tactical nuclear weapons to the territory of Belarus – this has happened,” said Mr Putin.
“The first nuclear warheads were delivered to the territory of Belarus. But only the first ones, the first part.
“But we will do this job completely by the end of the summer or by the end of the year.”
It is believed Mr Putin was referring to short-range nuclear warheads, the first time they have been stationed outside Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union.
They could be used to destroy specific targets in an area without causing wider radioactive fallout.
Mr Putin said the move was designed as a “deterrence” to countries that are arming and supporting Ukraine and intending to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia.
The US has criticised Russia’s deployment of nuclear weapons but said it has not seen any evidence they are likely to be used.
“We don’t see any indications that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
During his keynote speech on Friday, Mr Putin claimed Russia was “forced” to invade Ukraine, as he shrugged off Western sanctions and predicted the Russian economy will grow in a wide-ranging speech.
He also insisted on a minute’s silence for former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who died on Monday. The two were known to have had a close relationship.
During the speech to an audience of business leaders and foreign dignitaries, Mr Putin attempted to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“The war in Ukraine was begun by the Ukrainian regime with the support of their Western sponsors in 2014”, he said.
“Bombing began then in the Donbas – that is war.
“I was forced to use the armed forces in response to the request of the Donetsk in order to stop this armed operation.”
Despite Western sanctions and the withdrawal of Western companies, Mr Putin estimated the Russian economy could grow by up to two per cent this year, in contrast to IMF predictions from April which lowered its 2024 forecast for Russia from 2.1 per cent to 1.3 per cent.
Suggesting Russia had shrugged off the loss of Western businesses, he said Russian entrepreneurs were now “occupying vacated production facilities and sites in shopping centres”.
But in a change of tone, he added: “If foreign manufacturers want to return again, come to our market, and we hear such conversations more and more often, we are not closing the doors to anyone.”
His speech, which lasted more than an hour, made a number of references to the Ukraine conflict. He said Ukraine would soon run out of its own military equipment and be totally reliant on the West.
“Soon Ukraine will stop using its own equipment altogether,” he said. “Nothing remains of it.
“Everything with which they fight and everything that they use is brought in from the outside. You can’t fight for long like that.”
He warned Nato could end up being dragged into the war, saying Western tanks were “burning”.
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