Russia will take measures to "balance" the situation if NATO deploys nuclear weapons near the country's borders, said Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

"It's not a secret that, of course, the deployment of various types of [NATO] weapons near our borders, which may pose a danger to us, will require taking appropriate steps,” said Peskov in response to a question about the possibility of deploying Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus. According to him, in such a situation, "a variety of options are possible."

Earlie, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei in an interview with RT Arabic said that Belarus is ready to deploy Russian nuclear weapons if NATO deploys nuclear systems to Poland.

In late November, Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko said he is ready to ask Russia to deploy nuclear weapons to Belarus if the West moves nuclear weapons to Poland. He also suggested that in the event of Germany's refusal, American nuclear weapons would be transported to Poland.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Lukashenko's statement "is a result of the reckless policy pursued by the West."

After the collapse of the USSR, Belarus abandoned nuclear weapons and joined the Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear state. By November 1996, nuclear weapons had been completely withdrawn from the country. In 2010, Lukashenko said that he considered this a mistake.

On November 19, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that American nuclear weapons will be moved to Eastern Europe if Germany refuses to station them in its territory. In March 1991, an agreement came into force, according to which Germany stops its own production and use of nuclear, atomic, biological and chemical weapons in exchange for the deployment of a NATO nuclear arsenal to the west of the country. Stoltenberg stressed that the Alliance supports peace but cannot disallow NATO countries to have nuclear weapons when other states have them.

  NATO, Belarus, Russia

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