MINSK, December 12. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has instructed the military to ensure the deployment of the Russian-made Oreshnik intermediate-range missile systems on the country’s territory, BelTA news agency reported citing Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, First Deputy Defense Minister of Belarus Pavel Muraveiko.

"There was one instruction: to ensure the deployment of Oreshnik missiles in our territory and properly plan its uses," Muraveiko told journalists.

Asked by correspondents to specify the number of Oreshnik missile systems that are supposed to be deployed in Belarus, Muraveiko replied: "Only the president of Russia knows it."

BelTA earlier cited Lukashenko as saying to Russian President Vladimir Putin on December 10 that "we have certain locations where we can deploy these weapons."

"We have about 30 sites like that. We will choose appropriate ones because we need to consider the minimal distance to the target. We will deploy them and select targets," the president of Belarus added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on November 21 that the United States and its NATO allies had announced their decision to grant Kiev permission to use long-range high-precision weapons, following which US-and UK-made missiles attacked Russian military sites in the Kursk and Bryansk Regions.

In response to these attacks, Russia test-launched the latest Oreshnik hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missiles with conventional warheads against Ukraine’s major Yuzhmash defense enterprise in Dnepr (formerly Dnepropetrovsk), Putin elaborated.

The Russian leader stressed that the West’s inflammatory actions might trigger serious consequences if the Ukraine conflict escalates further.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced following the December 6 meeting of the Supreme Council of the Union State of Russia and Belarus that he had asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to deploy Oreshnik missile systems on the territory of Belarus. Putin stated that it could be done in the second half of 2025.

The Russian president said speaking after December 6 meeting that Oreshnik missile systems would be arriving for Russia’s Strategic Missile Force along with their deployment on the territory of Belarus.

The Belarusian Defense Ministry stressed later that the decision to deploy Oreshnik missile systems in Belarus had come in response to the steps by Germany and the United States to deploy intermediate-range missiles to Europe.