The statement was made at a summit in Minsk on December 6, where Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko signed a joint defense treaty to mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Russia-Belarus Union State.
"Today we signed an agreement on ensuring security with all available forces and means, so I believe that deploying systems like Oreshnik on the territory of Belarus is feasible," Putin said.
The Russian president added that the deployment could take place in the second half of 2025, when mass production of the Oreshnik increases and it officially enters service with Russia's strategic forces.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko at a summit in Minsk on December 6. (Photo: Reuters)
Russia fired Oreshnik missiles at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro for the first time on November 21, a move that Putin considered a response to Ukraine's use of US-made ATACM long-range missiles and British Storm Shadow missiles to attack Russian territory with Western permission.
President Putin said Russia could use Oreshnik again, including to attack "decision-making centers" in Kyiv, if Ukraine continues to attack Russia with Western long-range weapons.
The Russian leader declared that the Oreshnik missile is uninterceptable and has destructive power equivalent to a nuclear weapon, even when equipped with a conventional warhead.
Last month, Russian President Putin approved changes aimed at lowering the nuclear strike threshold in response to wider-range conventional attacks and expanding Moscow's nuclear defenses to cover Belarus.
Nuclear weapons were withdrawn from Belarus after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, but last year Putin announced that Russia was repositioning tactical nuclear missiles there to deter the West.
President Putin emphasized that the new joint defense treaty "will reliably help protect the security of Russia and Belarus."
Source: https://vtcnews.vn/nga-co-the-trien-khai-ten-lua-oreshnik-o-belarus-ar911980.html
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