Putin Warns NATO Not To Cross 'Red Lines' On Ukraine

Lukashenko says he will ask Putin to arm Belarus with NUKES if NATO sends similar weapons to Poland as Putin warns the alliance not to cross his 'red lines' on Ukraine military build-up

ROSS IBBETSON 

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has said he will ask Vladimir Putin to arm his country with nukes if NATO sends similar weapons to Poland.

The strongman dictator told the Kremlin-backed RIA news agency: 'We are ready for [nuclear weapons] on the territory of Belarus.' 

The claim came after Putin today warned the West and Ukraine not to cross his 'red lines' as NATO leaders met in Latvia amid soaring tensions in the Baltic and Black Sea regions.

Putin has sent some 94,000 troops to the Ukrainian frontier and the White House has warned Europe to brace for an invasion that would dwarf the 2014 annexation of the Crimea. 

But the Russian president said that the Kremlin was just as concerned by NATO's buildup of military hardware near its borders as the West was about the reinforcements gathering on the other side of the frontier.  

Speaking to participants of an online investment forum the Russian president said that NATO's eastward expansion has threatened Moscow's core security interests.

He expressed concern that NATO could eventually use the Ukrainian territory to deploy missiles capable of reaching Russia's command centres in just five minutes.

'The emergence of such threats represents a 'red line' for us,' Putin said. 'I hope that common sense and responsibility for their own countries and the global community will eventually prevail.'

He added that Moscow has been forced to counter the growing threats by developing new hypersonic weapons.

'What should we do?' Putin said. 'We would need to develop something similar to target those who threaten us. And we can do that even now.'

Separately, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov lobbed a series of new accusations against Kiev and said Russia reserved the right to respond if its security was threatened.

'We simply don't have the right to exclude that the Kiev regime may embark on a military adventure. This all creates a direct threat to Russia's security,' Lavrov told reporters, speaking alongside his Brazilian counterpart Carlos Franca.

'If the West is unable to contain Ukraine, but, on the contrary, will incite it, then of course, we will take all the necessary steps to ensure our reliable security.'

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