Putin signs agreement offering Russia’s security guarantees to ally Belarus

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited Belarus to sign a treaty offering security guarantees, including the possible use of Russian nuclear weapons, to protect Moscow’s closest ally. The signing of the document on Friday follows the publication of a revised version of Russia’s nuclear doctrine, which for the first time placed Belarus under the Russian nuclear umbrella amid the tensions between Moscow and the West over the Ukrainian conflict. The revamped doctrine that Putin endorsed last month formally lowered the threshold for Russia’s use of its nuclear weapons, a move that follows U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to let Ukraine strike targets inside Russian territory with American-supplied longer-range missiles.