Brussels, 8 May 2023
EN
P-001151/2023
Answer given by High Representative/Vice-President Borrell i Fontelles
on behalf of the European Commission
(5.5.2023)
The High Representative/Vice-President has publicly stated1 that the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons to Belarus would represent an irresponsible escalation and a threat to European security.
In the statement at the United Nations Security Council Briefing on Threats to International Peace and Security of 30 March 20232, the EU underlined that ‘by regularly alluding to the use of nuclear weapons in a war of aggression it has itself started, and coupled with the 25 March 2023 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’.
In this statement, the EU also stressed ‘this announced step also runs counter to the commitment of Belarus taken into account in the Budapest Memorandum3 to eliminate all nuclear weapons from its territory’.
The EU calls on Russia and Belarus to reverse the decision to deploy nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus and to abide by their international commitments. Belarus can still revert this decision, show restraint and not contribute further to the escalation. Further escalation will lead to a firm EU reaction. The EU continues to monitor the situation closely, in coordination with like-minded partners.
Since the beginning of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the EU has expelled 19 members of the Permanent Mission of Russia to the EU for engaging in activities contrary to their diplomatic status4, as part of an EU-wide coordinated action with Member States, which resulted in the expulsion of over 300 Russian diplomats across the EU. Nevertheless, it is for Member States to decide on the size of Russia’s diplomatic representation on their territory, in accordance with the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations5.
1 https://twitter.com/JosepBorrellF/status/1639982108612370432
2 https://www.eeas.europa.eu/delegations/un-new-york/eu-statement-%E2%80%93-un-security-councilannouncement-russia-deployment-nuclear_en
3 https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%203007/Part/volume-3007-I-52241.pdf
4 https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/russia-european-union-declared-19-diplomats-personae-non-gratae_en
5 https://legal.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/conventions/9_1_1961.pdf