Russia will provide the missiles, but the launchers will be produced locally, according to the president
Oreshnik systems deployed in Belarus will have Russian-supplied missiles, but with launchers made locally, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday. Moscow is expected to supply the weapons in the second half of 2025, he added.
Late last week, Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a security treaty which, among other things, allows for Moscow’s cutting-edge Oreshnik missiles to be stationed in the neighboring country.
The Oreshnik is an intermediate-range system, with missiles capable of carrying kinetic warheads that strike at hypersonic speeds. It is not classified as nuclear, but possesses significant firepower. The system was already battle-tested in Ukraine last month, and is expected to fully enter service in Russia in the second half of 2025.
Russia has already placed nuclear weapons in Belarus as part of the Union State partnership, but Oreshnik missiles will offer the country additional protection, according to Lukashenko.
“In Oreshnik, the entire launcher will be Belarusian… We will, of course, make the launcher ourselves. And the Russians will supply us with the rockets for free,” the president said during a question-and-answer session with factory workers, as cited by BelTA news outlet. He stressed that the new missile system is highly powerful, noting that its test-launch completely destroyed Ukraine’s Yuzhmash military-industrial complex in Dnepropetrovsk.
“This is where missiles were produced in the Soviet Union, among other things… A huge plant. Four-five floors underground. It is gone. One strike from Oreshnik, and this plant is practically gone. At its full depth,” he said.
According to the Belarusian leader, there are three dozen sites being considered for stationing Oreshniks in the country, chosen for their proximity to potential targets. He stressed that, according to his deal with Moscow, Minsk reserves the right to determine the targets for potential strikes with the new missiles.
“We need to defend ourselves… I have warned all my enemies, friends, and rivals: If you step on the country’s border line, the response will be immediate. I will not look at whether it is a nuclear weapon or something else,” Lukashenko said.
Belarus’ deputy chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Sergey Lagodyuk, earlier explained that the decision to deploy Oreshniks in the country was a direct response to US plans to station medium-range missiles in Germany, which was announced earlier this year. Lukashenko reiterated this, adding that his country needs the weapon to boost its strategic capabilities. He went on to say that he expects the new system to work as a deterrent against NATO aggression, the same as with tactical nuclear weapons – “more than a dozen” of which, he stated, have already been stationed in Belarus.
“If we have such powerful conventional weapons, before they come to us with tanks… they will think twice. Because the response will be serious. And there is really no antidote to this weapon. It is impossible to intercept or shoot down,” he said.
