Belarus leader says he wants Russian nuclear-capable missile systems

FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko shake hands during a news conference following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia September 9, 2021. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov/File Photo

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Belarus wants Russian nuclear-capable Iskander missile systems to deploy them in the south and west of the country, President Alexander Lukashenko said in an interview with a Russian defence magazine published on Saturday.

Russia is a close ally of Belarus, which the European Union has accused of engineering a crisis on its border by flying in thousands of migrants and pushing them to try to cross illegally into Poland. Brussels is gearing up to sanction Minsk.