UPDATE 2-Russia and Belarus sign treaty on security guarantees, TASS says

Nuclear weapons were withdrawn from Belarus after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, but Putin announced last year that Russia was placing tactical nuclear missiles there as a deterrent to the West. Lukashenko, in power in Belarus since 1994, said in October that any use of Russian nuclear weapons now deployed in Belarus would require his personal assent.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko signed a treaty on mutual security guarantees in Minsk on Friday, the TASS state news agency reported.

The two leaders, who are close allies, met in the Belarusian capital to mark the 25th anniversary of the Union State, a borderless union and alliance between the former Soviet republics. Putin said the signed treaty "will make it possible to reliably protect the security of Russia and Belarus, thus creating conditions for further peaceful and sustainable development of the two states," according to TASS.

The Kremlin leader approved changes last month which lowered the threshold for a nuclear strike on Russia and extended Moscow's nuclear umbrella to cover Belarus, a key ally. Nuclear weapons were withdrawn from Belarus after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, but Putin announced last year that Russia was placing tactical nuclear missiles there as a deterrent to the West.

Lukashenko, in power in Belarus since 1994, said in October that any use of Russian nuclear weapons now deployed in Belarus would require his personal assent. Moscow and Minsk regularly conduct joint military drills, and a Russian-led post-Soviet military bloc is set to hold exercises in Belarus next September.

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