The Russian parliament ratified the treaty with Belarus on security guarantees

‘Given the current geopolitical situation, of course, this treaty is of key importance, it is very important, very necessary. A lot of work has been done to prepare and agree it,’ Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said at the meeting.

Presenting the document for ratification, Senator Taimuraz Mamsurov reminded that the Treaty between Belarus and Russia on security guarantees within the Union State was signed on 6 December 2024 in Minsk by President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko and President of Russia Vladimir Putin on the margins of the meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Union State. ‘It is important to note that the initiative in signing the treaty belongs to President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Grigorievich Lukashenko and received the principled support of the Russian leader,’ the parliamentarian said.

‘The treaty is defensive in nature and is not directed against any third countries and associations. It obliges the parties to provide mutual support by all means consistent with international law in case of threats to the sovereignty, constitutional order, territorial integrity and external borders of the Union State,’ he noted.

‘The text of the treaty is innovative in many respects, corresponding to the depth of integration within the common defence space of the Union State. The peculiarity of the treaty also lies in the fact that it describes enhanced security guarantees in the nuclear sphere, which derive from the new edition of the Fundamentals of State Policy of the Russian Federation in the field of nuclear deterrence. This means that now the Russian nuclear umbrella provides protection for Belarus in the same way as Russia would react for its own defence,’ said Taimuraz Mamsurov.

According to the treaty, the parties undertake to support each other by all means and means agreed and allowed by international law and take appropriate actions in the political, military and other spheres in cases of encroachments on the security of either party and the Union State as a whole. Such encroachments are understood to mean the purposeful creation or implementation of a threat to the sovereignty, independence and/or constitutional order of the Parties, integrity and inviolability of the territory and external border of the Union State by third states and their associations, international organisations, terrorist and extremist organisations and groups.

‘The parties consider an armed attack on a member state of the Union State as an act of aggression against the Union State as a whole and will take appropriate retaliatory measures using all forces and means at their disposal in accordance with Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations and the legislation of the parties,’ the document states.

It also states that the parties consider the nuclear weapons of the Russian Federation as an important factor in preventing the outbreak of nuclear military conflicts and military conflicts with the use of conventional means of destruction, as well as a deterrent, the use of which is an extreme and compulsory measure. ‘Nuclear weapons of the Russian Federation may be used in response to the use of nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction against any of the parties, as well as in the event of aggression against any of the parties with the use of conventional weapons, which creates a critical threat to its sovereignty or territorial integrity,’ the treaty defines.

‘The decision on the use of nuclear weapons of the Russian Federation deployed on its territory for the defence of the Republic of Belarus shall be taken in accordance with the procedure established by the parties,’ reads the document.

The treaty also prescribes the possibility of joint counteraction to illegitimate sanctions. ‘In case of application by third states and their associations, international organisations of unilateral restrictive measures of economic and other nature against any of the parties, any party may initiate consideration of the issue of collective counteraction to these restrictive measures, including on the basis of the implementation of mutual support within the framework of the state economic policy and through the adoption of necessary measures by the bodies of the Union State, taking into account the national interests of each of the parties’, - is noted in the document.

The Treaty is concluded for 10 years with automatic prolongation for subsequent 10-year terms and comes into force on the day of exchange of instruments of ratification.