Summary Lukashenko says he already has Russian tactical nuclear weaponsIndicates delivery process is ongoingSays their use can be swiftly agreed with MoscowJune 14 (Reuters) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said his country has started taking delivery of Russian tactical nuclear weapons, some of which he said were three times more powerful than the atomic bombs the US dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia, which will retain control of the tactical nuclear weapons, would start deploying them in Belarus after special storage facilities to house them were made ready. The Russian leader announced in March he had agreed to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, pointing to the U.S deployment of such weapons in a host of European countries over many decades. Earlier on Tuesday, he had said separately that the Russian tactical nuclear weapons would be physically deployed on the territory of Belarus "in several days" and that he had the facilities to host longer-range missiles too if ever needed. No one has so far fought against a nuclear country, a country that has nuclear weapons."

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Persons: Lukashenko, Alexander Lukashenko, Vladimir Putin, Putin, didn't, Lidia Kelly, Andrew Osborn, Philippa Fletcher Organizations: United, NATO, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Russia, Soviet Union, Belarusian, Russian, Belarus, United States, China, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Soviet, Melbourne, London