The Russian leader has previously made veiled threats to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, rekindling Cold War fears.
Putin also threatened to order the use of depleted uranium shells in Ukraine if that country receives such weapons from the West, after a British deputy minister mentioned that possibility.
“There is nothing new here: the United States has been doing this for decades. It has had its tactical nuclear weapons positioned for a long time on the territory of its allies,” Putin said in an interview shown on Russian television.
“We decided to do the same,” he added, assuring that he had the endorsement of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Belarus borders Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, three EU and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries.
When referring to the issue of depleted uranium shells, Putin pointed out that Russia has a considerable arsenal of this type of weapon.
“Russia, of course, has something to respond with. We have, without exaggeration, tens of thousands of these howitzers. At the moment, we don’t use them,” he declared.
UK Deputy Defense Minister Annabel Goldi said on Monday her country planned to deliver howitzers “with depleted uranium” to Ukraine, which are “very effective in destroying modern tanks and armored vehicles”.
A day later, the British anti-nuclear organization Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament warned that its use would provoke an “additional environmental and health disaster for those at the heart of the conflict” in Ukraine.
The use of depleted uranium ammunition implies toxic risks for the military and the population in the areas where it is used.
This weapon was used in the two Gulf wars (1991 and 2003), as well as in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
The Pentagon has also acknowledged using depleted uranium shells on two occasions in 2015 in operations against the Islamic State group in Syria.
– Fewer nuclear deals –
Last month, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, warned that the risk of using nuclear weapons was increasing with the protracted conflict in Ukraine, which already completed 13 months.
In February, Putin suspended Russia’s participation in the New START nuclear disarmament treaty, which he had signed with the United States, and accused Western countries of “stirring up” the conflict in Ukraine.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg regretted this decision, recalling that it was the last bilateral agreement between Russia and the United States on nuclear disarmament.
“More nuclear weapons and less arms control make the world more dangerous,” he said.
Russia had already suspended, in August last year, the inspections of its nuclear facilities by the United States, which were foreseen in the New START.