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Mr. President,

I have the honour of making this statement on behalf of the EU and its Member States.

The Candidate Countries, North Macedonia^*, Montenegro^*, the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and Bosnia and Herzegovina^*, the potential candidate country Georgia, and the EFTA country Liechtenstein, member of the European Economic Area, as well as Andorra, Monaco and San Marino align themselves with this statement.

The EU condemns the announcement by Russia on 25 March of its intention to deploy nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus and that an agreement has been reached with Belarus to this end.

This announcement – part of continued reckless nuclear rhetoric by Russia - constitutes yet another irresponsible step, escalating an already tense situation, in view of Russia’s illegal and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine.  Just one month ago, the General Assembly adopted a resolution on a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine calling on all Member States to cooperate in the spirit of solidarity to address the global impacts of the war, including on nuclear security and safety.

The Belarusian regime is an accomplice in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The deletion of Belarus’ declared stance as a non-nuclear territory from the revised constitution adopted last year was a worrying development. The announcement of last week that Russia intends to deploy nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory would be yet another dangerous step. Threats with and use of nuclear weapons are inadmissible. Russia’s decision will not weaken our resolve to support Ukraine

However, Belarus can still make the choice to decline to host Russian nuclear weapons. We therefore call on the Belarus authorities to put an immediate stop to their support of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and reverse any decision that would only contribute to heightening tensions in the region.

Mr. President,

On 5 December 1994, the three depositories of the NPT - including Russia - signed the Budapest Memorandum with Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan respectively upon their accession to the NPT. Besides the reaffirmation of the commitments by the depositories, including by Russia, to “respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders” of Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan, and “to refrain from threat or use of force” against their “territorial integrity or political independence”, the Memorandums also take into account the commitments by the three states joining the NPT - including notably Belarus - “to eliminate all nuclear weapons from [their] territory”.

Let me recall that a little more than one year ago - on 3 January 2022, Russia signed up to the joint statement by the nuclear weapon states in the NPT - reaffirming that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought”. Furthermore, it reiterated this commitment just three days before its 25 March announcement in the 22 March Joint Statement with China.

Through  its unacceptable and dangerous nuclear rhetoric, by regularly alluding to the use of nuclear weapons in a war of aggression it has itself started and coupled with the 25 March announcement on deploying nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus, Russia acts in stark contradiction to the commitments of which it has undertaken to be a guardian. This announced step also runs counter to the commitment of Belarus taken into account in the Budapest Memorandum “to eliminate all nuclear weapons from its territory”.

Therefore, the EU calls on Russia and Belarus to reverse this decision and to abide by all their aforementioned commitments. The EU also calls on Russia to resume implementation of New START.

The EU and its Member States will continue to monitor the situation closely, in coordination with like-minded partners.

Thank you, Mr. President.

* North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.