Belarus speaks about nuclear weapons deployment at UN Security Council meeting

Nuclear weapons deployment in Belarus is a forced and purely retaliatory step in response to the unfriendly actions of the Western bloc, Belarus' Ambassador to the United Nations Valentin Rybakov said at the UN Security Council meeting on the threats to international peace and security on 31 March, BelTA has learned. Belarus is a consistent advocate of the process of nuclear disarmament non-proliferation.

The contribution of Belarus in nuclear disarmament is clear and indisputable. Its significance has has been repeatedly confirmed in numerous documents agreed in bilateral and multilateral formats.

In 1993 Belarus made a conscious choice to renounce nuclear weapons and acceded to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, becoming the first state in the former Soviet Union to voluntarily renounce the possibility to possess nuclear weapons without any preconditions or reservations,” the diplomat said. In December 1994 the United States, Russia and Great Britain signed a memorandum on security guarantees in connection with Belarus' accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and assumed obligations to guarantee the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Belarus.

They also committed to refrain from any measures of political and economic coercion. For a long time Belarus has been subject to unprecedented political, economic, financial and informational pressure, which is a direct violation of the Budapest Memorandum, Valentin Rybakov said.