Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday his country could host nuclear weapons if it faces an external threat as tensions soar between ally Russia and the west over Ukraine.
He also said that Belarus is considering buying several Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems to place them near the capital Minsk.
“If necessary, if such stupid and mindless steps are taken by our rivals and opponents, we will deploy not only nuclear weapons, but super-nuclear and up-and-coming ones to protect our territory," Lukashenko said, according to the state-run Belta news agency.
Russian and Belarusian troops have been involved in joint military exercises along the Ukraine border as war tensions mount in the region.
Moscow has consistently denied plans to invade Ukraine although amassing over 100,000 troops near its border.
Belarus was embroiled in a bitter dispute with Europe towards the end of last year as the EU accused authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko of organising migrant flows from the Middle East to western borders in his attempt to wreak revenge for sanctions.
Video footage showed intense showdowns at the border between migrants and Polish troops where rocks were thrown in one direction and tear gas in the other.
But Belarusian troops appear to have assisted the crisis, diverting the migrants away from the official crossing points to the adjacent woods – and an unofficial showdown.
Earlier, Belarusian foreign minister Vladimir Makei said that “not a single” Russian soldier will remain in the country after the massive joint maneuvers by Minsk and Moscow on Ukraine's border end.
“Not a single (Russian) soldier or a single unit of military equipment will stay on the territory of Belarus after the drills with Russia,” Mr Makei told a press conference in the capital Minsk. He said the Defense Ministry and Lukashenko had made this clear.
