Russia will deploy tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus once the necessary infrastructure is ready, which is expected to be next month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.

The Russian leader, who ordered his troops to invade their neighbor in February 2022, warned in March he would deploy these weapons to Belarus, which was seen as an apparent warning to the United States and its European allies.

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“Everything is going according to plan,” Putin told Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko at the Black Sea summer retreat in Sochi, according to Reuters. “Preparation of the relevant facilities ends on July 7-8, and we will immediately begin activities related to the deployment of appropriate types of weapons on your territory."

Putin has issued thinly veiled threats and referenced his nuclear arsenal many times over the course of the 15-month war, which has been watched closely by Ukraine's allies and others such as China, which has preemptively warned Moscow against using nuclear weapons in the war. His flaunting of the possible maneuver is a move designed to dissuade Ukraine's allies from aiding in the war.

Tactical nuclear weapons are small nuclear warheads intended for short-range use on the battlefield or for a limited strike, and Russia's nuclear doctrine includes the belief that it could use a small nuclear weapon without incurring a nuclear retaliatory response from the United States or others.

“We’re just going to have to watch and see where this one goes,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said shortly after Putin's announcement in late March. “We have not seen any indication that he’s made good on this pledge or moved any nuclear weapons around. We’ve, in fact, seen no indication that he has any intention to use nuclear weapons, period, inside Ukraine.”

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Putin suspended Russia's participation in the New START treaty, the only agreement left regulating the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals, on Feb. 21. The treaty, which was signed in 2010, was extended just days before its expiration in February 2021 for another five years.

Russia’s willingness to adhere to some of the treaty regulations despite halting its participation shows “a potential willingness to continue limiting strategic nuclear forces through 2026,” U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said last week in a speech about how the U.S. was hoping to restart nuclear arms treaty conversations with Moscow and Beijing.