MOSCOW, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- Russia is not planning to deploy nuclear weapons in other countries, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Thursday.
Ryabkov affirmed Moscow's commitment to refrain from deploying nuclear weapons in countries beyond the existing stations in Belarus. This statement came during a press conference held after the inaugural BRICS Sherpas and Sous-Sherpas meeting.
Ryabkov said Moscow deployed tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus to counter "the increasingly aggressive and threatening activities of the North Atlantic Alliance," as a responsible approach to this matter.
In March last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia, at the request of Minsk, would deploy its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, just as the United States had been doing on the territories of its allies. ■