MOSCOW. June 11 (Interfax) - In holding a joint non-strategic nuclear exercise with Belarus, Russia is reacting to numerous actions of the West, including the enlargement of NATO's military potential near its borders, Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu said.
"I note that our exercise is an appropriate response to the West's support for the terrorist Kiev regime, the active involvement of NATO servicemen in the hostilities in Ukraine, and the actual permission [given for] Kiev's missile strikes on Russian civilian facilities," Shoigu told the Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper on Tuesday.
"In addition, Russia is responding to the enlargement of NATO's military potential near our borders by holding this exercise," Shoigu said.
He noted the generally reserved reaction of the international community to the Russian non-strategic nuclear forces' exercise on Union State territory.
"An increasing number of states realize that the international security situation has been deteriorating precisely because of the irresponsible behavior of the United States and its actions that undermine arms control regimes," he said.
The Russian Defense Ministry said earlier on Tuesday that the second stage of the non-strategic nuclear exercise had begun, and that the two countries' militaries were practicing preparing such weapons for combat.