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Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko could be closing the door for any meaningful openness with the West.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal printed Nov. 14, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said he is in discussions with the Kremlin about the possible deployment of Russian missiles in Belarus. He also voiced his support for the placement of Russian Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad, with which the Kremlin hopes to neutralize planned U.S. ballistic missile defense (BMD) installations in Poland and the Czech Republic (although given its short range, the Iskanders would threaten only the proposed Polish sites). Lukashenko’s comments came on the same day as the signing of a $2 billion loan from Russia to Belarus that was originally announced Oct. 21.

Lukashenko’s support for Russian missiles in Kaliningrad and possibly in Belarus itself seems to suggest that Minsk has chosen to close the doors on any hint of a substantive opening toward the West. Minsk is still in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over a $2 billion loan to stabilize its economy, but a more strategic opening seems to be out of the picture, at least for now.