MOSCOW, December 18. /TASS/. Russia's use of the Oreshnik hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile on the territory of Ukraine has forced London to take a more cautious approach regarding strikes with long-range weapons deep inside Russia, the country’s ambassador to the UK Andrey Kelin said.

"Not that they [London's representatives] were scared, but overall they realized that a completely new factor had appeared on the scene - that's the first thing. The second is that we have retaliated for the use of Storm Shadow [long-range missiles] deep inside Russian territory. That's obvious as well. There is a sense that they are being a little more cautious, a little more balanced in their approach to this issue. And, in fact, they are now closely following what is happening," the diplomat said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV channel.

According to Kelin, the UK’s official reaction to the launch of the Oreshnik missile was rather vague. At the same time, "in the expert community there was undoubtedly a serious study of the abilities, capabilities of the Oreshnik missile, its deployment on the territory of Belarus, from which, let’s say, any point in Europe is reachable," the ambassador pointed out.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on November 21 that the United States and its NATO allies had earlier announced that they would authorize Ukraine’s use of long-range weapons to hit inside Russia, after which American and British missiles struck Russian military facilities in the Kursk and Bryansk regions. He said that Russia responded to those attacks by firing Russia's newest Oreshnik hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile with a non-nuclear warhead at a Ukrainian defense industry facility, the Yuzhmash plant in Dnepr (formerly Dnepropetrovsk). The Russian leader emphasized that the West's provocative policies could have dire consequences if they further escalate the conflict.

In turn, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said after the meeting of the Union State Supreme State Council in Minsk on December 6 that he had asked Putin to deploy Oreshnik missiles on the territory of the country. The Russian president said that the delivery of the missiles could be implemented in the second half of 2025. Later, Lukashenko said that Belarus has about 30 sites for the possible deployment of Oreshnik missiles.