Russia to deploy Oresznik missiles in Belarus by 2025
By the end of this year, Russia plans to deploy Oresznik missile systems in Belarus, according to the Secretary of the Belarusian Security Council, Aleksander Wolfowicz.
What do you need to know?
- Russia plans to deploy Oresznik missile systems in Belarus by the end of 2025.
- In December 2024, Aleksander Lukashenko asked Moscow to deploy the Oresznik systems in Belarus.
- Oresznik is a Russian intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Russia used it in an attack on Dnipro on 21 November of last year.
Belarus, a key ally of Moscow, had already agreed to the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons on its territory. The two countries have signed the appropriate agreement.
Details finalised. Russia deploys Oresznik systems in Belarus
The Secretary of the Belarusian Security Council, Aleksander Wolfowicz, stated that "the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of the Republic of Belarus is one of the steps of strategic deterrence," announcing that Russia is to deploy Oresznik missile systems in Belarus by the end of 2025.
"The locations where they will be deployed have already been determined," he said, as quoted by "The Kyiv Independent."
These systems are promoted by Russia as experimental weapons, capable of bypassing advanced air defence systems.
Oresznik is a modification of the RS-26 Rubezh model, with a range of up to 5,500 kilometres (3,420 miles). In November 2024, Russia used it against the Yuzhmash arms factory in Dnipro. This attack came after Ukraine successfully used American ATACMS missiles against military targets in Russia for the first time. "The use of Oresznik by Russia against Ukraine was mainly of psychological and propaganda significance," assessed the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
