The Kremlin dismissed criticism from Western countries regarding Russia's decision to station nuclear weapons in Belarus.

Russian President Vladimir Putin made the announcement in an interview with Russian state media this week, explaining that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally, had agreed to the deployment, which prompted concerns from Western countries allied with Ukraine.

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"Obviously, such a reaction cannot affect Russia’s plans," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Monday.

The Russian leader said the move was in response to the United Kingdom's decision to provide Ukraine with armor-piercing rounds containing depleted uranium. It serves as an effort to dissuade the U.K. and its NATO allies from continuing military support for Ukraine and marks another instance of Putin's nuclear saber-rattling since launching Russia's invasion last February.

“We’re just going to have to watch and see where this one goes,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on CBS. “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.”

He also rejected the claim from Russia that depleted uranium shells represented any nuclear escalation.

“There is no radioactive threat from depleted uranium rounds," he added. "They’re common on the battlefield. Even Russia uses similar rounds. So, if that is, in fact, the justification, it’s a stake through a straw man.”

Putin maintained the Kremlin would maintain control of the nuclear weapons while they are in Belarus.

“We have not seen any reason to adjust our own strategic nuclear posture nor any indications Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said in a statement to CNN, adding that the department will “continue to monitor the implications."

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Tactical nuclear weapons are small nuclear warheads intended for short-range use on the battlefield or for a limited strike. Putin has frequently flaunted his nuclear arsenal to dissuade the West from intervening more significantly to stop his invasion of Ukraine while publicly denying claims that he would consider using a nuclear weapon in Ukraine if it ensured his ability to take the Eastern European country by force.

Putin's forces also invaded Ukraine from Belarus, its northern neighbor, because it created a quicker route to Ukraine's capital, though the attempt to overthrow Kyiv proved insurmountable in the first months of the war, and Russia refocused its military in the eastern part of the country.