Belarusian head of state wants Russian nuclear missile systems

Belarus wants to station Russian nuclear-capable Iskander missile systems in the south and west of the country, said President Alexander Lukashenko in an interview with a Russian defense magazine published on Saturday.

Russia is a close ally of Belarus, accused by the European Union of creating a crisis on its border by flying in thousands of migrants and forcing them to enter Poland illegally. Brussels is preparing to impose sanctions on Minsk.

Lukashenko told National Defense magazine that he needed the Iskander mobile ballistic missile system, which has a range of up to 500 kilometers and can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads.

"I need several divisions in the west and in the south, leave them (there)," he said.

In the west of Belarus are the EU members Poland and Lithuania. In the south it borders on Ukraine.

Lukashenko did not provide any information about whether he had talks with Moscow about preserving the missile system.

The Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to the request for comment.

Belarus and Russia are formally part of a "union state" and have been talking about rapprochement for years.