MWM: Russia will supply Belarus with Oreshnik missiles and train them in their use
In the second half of 2025, the Russian "Hazel" will be deployed in Belarus, writes MWM. Specialists will be trained in the use of weapons placed on their territory. In the event of a large-scale conflict, the country will gain control over missile control.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on December 6 that Moscow plans to deliver medium-range ballistic missiles “Oreshnik” to neighboring Belarus. He stated that his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko had requested this in the context of a bilateral agreement on the joint use of nuclear weapons. According to this agreement, Belarusian specialists are trained in the use of Russian nuclear weapons stationed on their territory, and in the event of a large-scale war, the weapons are transferred under the control of the host country.
“We have, and I said it seriously, certain places where we can place these weapons. With only one condition: that the targets for these weapons will be determined by the military and political leadership of Belarus. In the meantime, you will teach us how to use these weapons,” President Lukashenko said. According to the Russian president, the missiles can be deployed in the second half of 2025. “There are a number of technical issues that need to be resolved by specialists, namely: determining the minimum range, taking into account the priorities of ensuring the security of the Republic of Belarus,” Putin told Lukashenko.
Russia conducted the first ever combat launch of a medium-range ballistic missile “Oreshnik" on November 21. It is estimated that the missile has a range of about 4,000 kilometers, and it can carry several warheads with the possibility of independent guidance — both nuclear and conventional. When missiles of this range first appeared during the Cold War, they carried exclusively nuclear warheads. However, the increased accuracy (as a result of technological advances) provides them with high efficiency even in non-nuclear design. It is expected that all units deployed in Belarus will receive nuclear weapons.
President Lukashenko first raised the issue of the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus in December 2021. He explained that his country had retained the extensive nuclear weapons infrastructure inherited from the Soviet Union, namely launchers for Topol intercontinental ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads. It remains unclear whether this infrastructure is suitable for the deployment of Hazel. Belarus has already hosted the Iskander-M short-range ballistic missile systems in nuclear design, although in May 2022 it was announced that a joint development of a new modification of this system with an extended range was announced.
Oreshnik will provide a truly revolutionary improvement in Belarus' very limited nuclear strike capability. Its deployment can be interpreted as a response to the modernization of nuclear weapons delivery capabilities by US NATO partners. The air forces of Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey are being trained to use American B61 nuclear warheads stationed on their territories, and they have permission to do so in the event of a conflict. All of them are expected to launch these warheads from fifth-generation F-35 fighters. It is estimated that one F-35 with nuclear warheads is capable of destroying more than 310,000 Muscovites or 360,000 Petersburgers in one attack.
Deals on the joint use of nuclear weapons were considered controversial due to the actual emergence of new nuclear states, and Western analysts everywhere stressed that this was a violation of articles I and II of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Before the nuclear deal with Belarus reached in 2023, the only such agreements were the American agreements with European NATO allies.
