Belarus will renounce its non-nuclear and neutral status

Belarus will renounce its non-nuclear and neutral status, allowing Russia to place nuclear weapons on its territory, as a result of the referendum held today.

The agencies cited the Belarus central elections commission as saying 65.2% of those who took part voted in favour. 

The West has already said it will not recognise the results of the referendum.

"If you (the West) transfer nuclear weapons to Poland or Lithuania, to our borders, then I will turn to Putin to return the nuclear weapons that I gave away without any conditions," Lukashenko said.

This follows the news on Sunday whereby Russian President Vladimir Putin dramatically escalated East-West tensions by ordering Russian nuclear forces put on high alert.

Citing “aggressive statements” by NATO and tough financial sanctions, Putin made the move to increase the readiness of Russia’s nuclear weapons which has put markets on edge at the start of the week.