“The Oreshnik missile system is now on combat duty in Belarus,” Lukashenko said

The Russian Oreshnik missile system arrived in Belarus on Wednesday, December 17, and has been placed on combat duty.

This was stated by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in his address to the nation and parliament at the second session of the 7th All-Belarusian People’s Assembly on Thursday in Minsk. The broadcast was carried by the presidential press service.

Cooperation with Russia ensures Belarus’s strategic protection, he emphasized. Minsk and Moscow, he said, are implementing a set of strategic deterrence measures.

“This includes the deployment on our territory of the Russian component of the regional grouping of forces. In the event of an escalation of the conflict, the armed forces are defined—several tens of thousands of personnel in western Russia who are brought into the fight as a second echelon. Belarus goes first, and then the Russian Federation supports us. This is the regional grouping of forces. And the tactical nuclear weapons that we have returned to Belarus,” Lukashenko said.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the Oreshnik medium-range missile system would be placed on combat duty by the end of the year.