President Alexander Lukashenko (left) expressed his personal opinion that countries concerned about nuclear weapons could join the Russia-Belarus Union State. (Source: TASS)

Last week, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev noted the “phenomenon” of the Union State within the structure of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), arguing that Russia and Belarus “even now have nuclear weapons for both.”

Meanwhile, commenting on President Tokayev's statement, the Kremlin said that this was true and that Moscow-Minsk cooperation within the framework of the Union State was "a more developed level of integration than the EAEU".

“If anyone is worried, I don't think Kassym-Jomart Tokayev is worried about this, but if suddenly worried, then no one will object to Kazakhstan and other countries that have close relations like us with Russia,” Mr Lukashenko said.

According to the leader, it is "very simple: you need to join the Belarus-Russia alliance, all of you will have nuclear weapons".

Although noting that this is only his opinion, the head of Belarus admitted that the expansion of the Union State is possible.

Russia and Belarus now belong to the Union State, an agreement aimed at increasing the integration of the two countries both politically and economically.

In March, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that his country and Belarus had agreed to deploy Moscow's tactical nuclear weapons on each other's territory.

On May 25, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and his Belarusian counterpart Viktor Khrenin signed documents on the deployment of nuclear weapons.

At that time, Shoigu said that control over tactical nuclear weapons, as well as decisions regarding their use, remained with the Kremlin, noting that Russia could take “additional measures” in the future to “ensure the security of the Union State.”

Also on May 25, President Lukashenko announced that the two countries had begun the transfer of a number of tactical nuclear weapons.