Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, has asked Russian president Vladimir Putin to give security guarantees to his nation.

Speaking to Russia’s defence minister on Monday, April 10 that he wanted guarantees that Moscow would defend his country if it was attacked, the state-owned BelTA news agency reported.

BelTA cited Lukashenko as making the remarks to Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu during a meeting in the Belarusian capital Minsk.

Lukashenko was cited as saying that he had previously discussed the matter with Russian President Vladimir Putin who he said had agreed with him that such security guarantees were necessary and needed to be formalised.

“In general, it sounded at the talks (with Putin) that in the case of aggression against Belarus, the Russian Federation would protect Belarus as its own territory. These are the kind of security (guarantees) we need,” Lukashenko was quoted as saying.

Belarus, which currently hosts some Russian forces, has offered assistance to Moscow during its military campaign in Ukraine which Russia calls “a special military operation.”

In the beginning of the war, Minsk allowed Moscow to use its territory to launch an ultimately unsuccessful assault on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.