Today, news has begun to spread online that Russia will deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. Putin claims that this will be done without violating the nuclear non-proliferation regime and that Minsk will not gain control over nuclear charges. It has been reported that Russia has already helped to convert 10 Belarusian military aircraft for the use of tactical nuclear weapons and transferred to Minsk Iskander missile systems that can carry such charges. Putin also states that construction of a storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons will be completed in Belarus by July 1 and that training for Iskander crews is scheduled to begin on April 3. This move is believed to be in response to the British Deputy Defense Secretary's statement that they are going to supply depleted uranium shells to Ukraine. However, Western authorities and experts have pointed out that such shells are designed to combat heavy equipment and have nothing to do with nuclear weapons, and that depleted uranium munitions are also in service in Russia. The deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Russia is seen as a big step towards escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, and it is believed that whoever uses nuclear weapons in the 21st century is likely to become a pariah to the rest of the world.