Kremlin Defends Nukes In Belarus, Must Defend Itself From NATO Growth

Wires reporting comments from Kremlin spox Dmitri Peskov defending the announcement that Russia would seek to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, stating that Russia has to defend itself given the expansion of NATO to include Finland. Says that 'NATO is the one expanding towards Russia, not the other way round.'

• President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko willchair a joint State Council meetingtoday where further details on the planned deployment may come to light.
• Separately, state-run Interfax reports that a Moscow court will hear an appeal from detained WSJ journalist Evan Gershkovich on 18 April. The arrest of Gershkovich - a US citizen - has sparked mass condemnation from western gov'ts and media outlets.