Nuclear forces exercise

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Lukashenko,

Comrades,

Today, as part of the exercise, we are conducting the first joint training session of the Russian and Belarusian armed forces in the command and control of strategic and tactical nuclear forces.

As I have said before, and would like to emphasise once again, the use of nuclear weapons is an extreme and exceptional measure to ensure the national security of our countries.

At the same time, considering the escalation of tensions around the world and the emergence of new threats and risks, our nuclear triad must continue to serve as a reliable guarantor of the sovereignty of the Union State of Russia and Belarus, ensuring strategic deterrence and maintaining nuclear parity and the global balance of power.

The joint exercise will cover a wide range of objectives with a focus on officials' actions regarding management and interaction when engaging nuclear weapons, including those deployed on the territory of the Republic of Belarus.

In addition, we will have field launches of ballistic and cruise missiles today.

Mr Lukashenko, I pass the floor to you.

President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko Lukashenko AlexanderPresident of Belarus : Mr Putin, I am delighted to see you and the top commanders of the Russian Federation Armed Forces.

I wish you good health after this challenging week, since I know what it means, especially in terms of travelling to the east and returning back. Congratulations on the success of your visit to our friends in the People's Republic of China.

I would also like to send my greetings to the service personnel, generals and members of the General Staff, and all those engaged in today's exercise.

In fact, this is the first joint exercise of this kind, as you have said, even if, as it turns out, our general staffs and defence ministers have been practicing some of these elements on a quarterly basis, but without us. Therefore, I would like to thank the military for inviting us. I remember that it was winter when we discussed whether it would be possible for the presidents to take part in this exercise. At the time, we agreed to attend this exercise at about this time of the year.

Therefore, I once again thank all those who prepared this event and who invited us - President Putin and me - to this complex event.

I do support what you said about the fact that we are not threatening anyone in any way. But we have these weapons, and we are ready to do everything to defend our Fatherland from Brest to Vladivostok, our shared Fatherland, and will use all available means to achieve this goal. This is the only message we wanted to send, and I think that you would agree with me. And since we have something at our disposal, we must be able to use it.

I have visited all the surrounding facilities, in Belarus, in the east and in the centre - everything is in good order. We have the Russian generals here. I talked to them, and they are satisfied with the way we have been working together. I think that the planned exercise goes according to plan, and of course, if someone wants to distort our message, they will. As for us, what we do is legitimate and we will keep doing it to defend our people.

Thank you, Mr Putin, to you and the members of Russia's General Staff, as well as to the defence ministers present here today.

Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you. I suggest getting down to work.

I give the floor to Russia's Defence Minister. Mr Belousov, please.

Minister of Defence of Russia Andrei Belousov Belousov AndreiDefence Minister of the Russian Federation : Yes, Mr President.

Comrade Supreme Commander-in-Chief,

This joint nuclear forces exercise is being conducted in accordance with the plan for training the armed forces of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov will describe the procedure for conducting this exercise.

Vladimir Putin: Go ahead, please.

To be continued.