From RIA Novosti: Belarus possesses hundreds of kilograms of highly enriched uranium and is not going to get rid of it, the country’s Belta news agency quoted Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko as saying.

The statement came after the 47-nation nuclear security summit, hosted in Washington by U.S. President Barack Obama on April12-13. Belarus was not invited to participate in the top-level meeting, during which world leaders agreed, according to their communique, to "join Obama’s call to secure all vulnerable nuclear material in four years" to "enhance nuclear security."

"We still have highly enriched uranium. Hundreds of kilograms of… weapons-grade [at least 90%-enriched] and less-enriched uranium," the Belarusian strongman said. …

"I say: first, why do you dictate us [what to do]? This is our product, we are keeping it under control of the IAEA. We are not going to produce dirty bombs or sell them to anyone. We use this uranium for research purposes," Belta quoted Lukashenko as saying.

The Belarusian president called on the world’s nuclear powers to discuss the issue together.

"Let us sit at the negotiation table and decide what to do with this big amount of enriched uranium," Lukashenko said.

"Nobody will be allowed to make Belarus bow down," he said.  (photo: Getty)

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