Belarus will join Russia in the second phase of nuclear exercises, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. According to him, there will be three phases.

The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) on Monday informed that on the instructions of its General Staff, president Vladimir Putin, it started preparing for the military exercises of the missile units of the Southern Military District and the Navy. It is planned to hone "the skills on using non-strategic [i.e. also called, “tactical”] nuclear weapons" during these military exercises.

The next day, the MoD of Belarus announced the start of a "sudden inspection" of the tactical nuclear weapons of its armed forces.