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Belarus would be ready to use nuclear weapons in the face of foreign "aggression", President Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday, as tensions rise.
Minsk has played a key role in Russia's war in Ukraine, with Moscow using Belarus to invade Ukraine in early 2022, while joint Russian-Belarusian military exercises over the past year have fueled concerns that Belarusian troops could join the Russian forces in the conflict.
In an interview with the state-run Belta news agency, Lukashenko claimed that Belarus "would never be involved in this war" if the Ukrainians did not cross the border.
"We will continue to help Russia, they are our ally," he added.
He also warned that if provoked especially by neighboring NATO countries such as Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, Belarus will react including the use of nuclear weapons.
During the interview, Lukashenko said if Belarus were to be attacked, "we will not delay, we will wait for others too. We will use our entire arsenal of weapons for prevention."
"We did not deploy nuclear weapons to scare anyone. Yes, nuclear weapons represent a strong deterrent. But these are tactical, not strategic, nuclear weapons.
That is why we will use them immediately after the aggression against us starts," said Lukashenko.
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