MINSK, December 19. /TASS/. Preparations are underway for the Oreshnik intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile system to go on combat duty in Belarus, Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said.
"The Oreshnik missile system has arrived and has been deployed on the territory of the Republic of Belarus. Preparations are underway for it to go on combat duty. As soon as this takes place, we will necessarily invite you to show it," the defense minister said, addressing journalists.
The deployment of the Russian-made hypersonic missile system in Belarus is an issue of strategic deterrence, he stressed.
"These are all strategic deterrence issues and they constitute a priority. The president constantly talks about that," the defense minister said.
"All the same, an individual, a soldier will decide all matters on the battlefield. We clearly understand this. These are the issues of tactics and combat training. Combat cohesion and team building will constitute a priority in response to the escalation and those problems that our neighbors, unfortunately unfriendly, pose to us," he added.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on December 18 that Western countries were purchasing a large amount of weapons and, therefore, the republic needed to have its own "gun" to deter the West. Late in October, the Belarusian leader said that the Oreshnik hypersonic missile system would enter combat duty in December. In November, Lukashenko said that the Oreshnik would be a mobile missile system moving across particular areas in the republic from where it could deliver a strike, if necessary.