UPDATE - Belarus is now Russia's 'nuclear hostage,' says Ukraine

ADDS STATEMENT FROM UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) – Russia has made Belarus into a “nuclear hostage,” a top Ukrainian official said on Sunday.

President Vladimir Putin’s decision to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus is “a step towards the internal destabilization of the country,” Oleksiy Danilov, the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, warned in a tweet.

The move “maximizes the level of negative perception and public rejection of Russia and Putin in Belarusian society,” he said.

“The Kremlin took Belarus as a nuclear hostage,” Danilov added.

A later statement by Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry called on Belarusian society to prevent the deployment of nuclear weapons in the country, which it said would be "in violation of its obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which will further turn this country into a hostage of the Kremlin and have catastrophic consequences for its future."

The statement said Putin's statements on the weapons are "provocative steps" by Moscow which "undermine the principles of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the architecture of nuclear disarmament and the international security system as a whole."

In announcing the move, Putin claimed it would not violate the nonproliferation regime, Russian news agency TASS earlier reported.

The Ukrainian statement also said Kyiv "expects" action from the permanent members of the UN Security Council to counter the plan and urged an immediate extraordinary meeting on the issue.

The world must also prove to Russia the "categorical unacceptability of its next nuclear provocations and to take decisive measures to effectively deter and prevent any possibility" of its use of nuclear weapons, said the statement.

"Russia once again confirms its chronic inability to be a responsible steward of nuclear weapons as a means of deterrence and prevention of war, not as a tool of threats and intimidation. The world must unite against the one who threatens the future of human civilization," it said.

Putin announced on Saturday that Russia will complete construction of a special storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus, sparking concern and condemnation from Ukraine and its Western allies.

Putin said his counterpart Alexander Lukashenko had long raised the issue.

“The US has long placed such weapons in a number of countries, so there is nothing unusual in Belarus’ request,” the Russian leader said.

He said Russia has already handed over Iskander missile systems, which can be used to launch nuclear weapons, to Belarus.

Russia will have completed the construction of a storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus by July 1 and the control of arms will not be transferred to Minsk, Putin added.​​​​​