President of Belarus offers to host Russian nuclear weapons

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko attends a meeting with top-level military officials in Minsk, Belarus (Nikolay Petrov/BelTA Pool Photo via AP)

The President of Belarus has said that his country would be ready to host Russian nuclear weapons if Nato moves US atomic bombs from Germany to eastern Europe.

In an interview, Alexander Lukashenko also said for the first time that he recognises the Crimean Peninsula as part of Russia and plans to visit it soon. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a move that the west regards as illegal.