Belarus starts receiving tactical nuclear weapons from Russia, President Alexander Lukashenko says

The development, watched closely by the United States and its allies, comes after Alexander Lukashenko appeared to contradict Vladimir Putin over the potential use of the weapons.

Belarus has started to receive tactical nuclear weapons from Russia, its leader has said.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko told Russian state TV that his country is taking delivery of the weapons, some of which he said were three times more powerful than the atomic bombs the US dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Lukashenko said Tuesday that "everything is ready" for the Russian nuclear weapons' deployment, adding that "it could take just a few days for us to get what we had asked for and even a bit more."

Asked later by a Russian state TV host whether Belarus had already received some of the weapons, Lukashenko responded coyly by saying: "Not all of them, little by little."

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