Russia won't tell US number of nuclear warheads in Belarus

FILE PHOTO: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov attends a news conference at the Russian Mission after his speech at the Conference on Disarmament at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland March 2, 2023. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo

(Reuters) - Russia will not inform the U.S. about the number of nuclear warheads it is stationing in Belarus or tests of its nuclear-capable Poseidon torpedo, the Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Friday.

Moscow and Minsk say Belarus has already begun receiving the Russian tactical, or short-range, nuclear weapons that President Vladimir Putin had publicly promised to station there, as tensions with the West soar over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.