Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko said in a joint statement on Thursday that they are ready to counter the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) "hostile and destabilizing" actions regarding Ukraine with political and military measures.

"The most destabilizing actions by NATO countries, provoking the most serious strategic risks, include, first of all, the continuing hostile steps in the context of the Ukrainian crisis, fraught with direct armed conflict between nuclear powers, plans to deploy American ground-based medium- and shorter-range missiles in Europe, and the buildup of anti-missile capabilities that form and fuel the European segment of the US global missile defense system," the two leaders said in the statement.

Putin and Lukashenko noted that they are prepared to counter NATO's threats to their security, which include establishing military infrastructure along the Union State's borders and escalating military operations in contact zones.