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Lukashenko: Belarus has nuclear weapons

BORISOV, 10 December (BelTA) – Belarus really has nuclear weapons, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he answered the questions of employees of the POZHSNAB enterprise in Borisov, BelTA learned.

“I had nuclear warheads deployed here. More than a dozen of them. Many people dismiss it as a joke, saying that ‘nobody brought anything’. We did. The fact that they [opponents] say it's a joke means they’ve missed it. They haven't even noticed how we brought them here,” the Belarusian leader said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko made this statement as he fielded a question about plans to host the Russian missile system Oreshnik which is not a nuclear weapon, but has great power.

“Using nuclear weapons is a big responsibility. Nobody has pressed the red button after Hiroshima and Nagasaki [the U.S. nuclear bombing of the Japanese cities in 1945],” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “But I have warned all enemies, ‘friends’ and rivals: if you step on the state border line, the response will be instantaneous. I will not look at nuclear weapons or anything else.” “We agreed on this with the Russians even before they gave us back nuclear weapons. It is not yet the weapons that we renounced back in the day. Those were strategic weapons. These are tactical nuclear weapons. Though probably five times more powerful than Oreshnik.”

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