Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday that Belarus is hosting dozens of Russian nuclear weapons and is preparing to receive Russia’s new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile, known as the Oreshnik.
“I have deployed nuclear warheads here. Several dozen warheads. Many say that this is a joke and no one has deployed anything. Yes, we did,” Lukashenko said, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.
“And the fact that they say that this is a joke means that they have missed it. They overlooked how we brought them here,” Lukashenko added, suggesting he believes Western intelligence agencies didn’t track the deployment.
Russian President Vladimir Putin first announced in 2023 that he would deploy nuclear weapons to Belarus, a move he said was in response to Western provocations. He has compared the deployment to NATO’s nuclear sharing program, under which US nuclear warheads are deployed in Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, and Turkey.
Belarus has received nuclear-capable Iskander missiles, and the Russian military helped upgrade Belarusian fighter jets so they could carry nuclear warheads.
Lukashenko is now asking for Russia to deploy the Oreshnik missile to Belarus and said there are about 30 locations where they could be stationed. “We are currently thinking about where to deploy this weapon. We have some sites where strategic nuclear weapons used to be deployed,” he said.
Russia fired an Oreshnik missile into Ukraine in November after Ukrainian forces fired US and British missiles into Russian territory. Initial reports said the missile was nuclear-capable, but Russian media said Moscow plans to deploy a non-nuclear version.
The Oreshnik that was fired into Ukraine was believed not to be carrying any explosives since it did little damage. Putin has said a conventionally armed Oreshnik could make nuclear weapons unnecessary since it can carry such a large payload and fire multiple warheads.
