On Friday it was announced that Russia will station some of its new Oreshnik hypersonic missiles in Belarus, the country to the northwest of Ukraine. This system may be what Russian Federation Council chairwoman Valentina Matvienko recently referred to as a ‘super weapon‘.
The announcement came following the signing of security agreements between the two nations by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Minsk, Belarus on Friday.
“The treaty defines mutual allied commitments to ensure defense, protect sovereignty, independence, and constitutional order of Russia and Belarus, the integrity and inviolability of their territories and the external borders of the Union State, with the involvement of all available forces and means. This includes, among other things, Russian tactical nuclear weapons, which, at the suggestion of the president of Belarus, will be deployed on the territory of the Republic of Belarus,” Putin said during the meeting, according to Sputnik on Friday.
The high-speed missiles are set to be stationed in Belarus in the second half of 2025.
“Oreshnik missiles are capable of carrying kinetic warheads that strike at hypersonic speeds, that is up to Mach 10. Russia has already placed nuclear weapons in Belarus and expanded its nuclear protection to include Belarus as part of their Union State partnership,” RT said Friday.
Putin discussed the military escalation which brought about the agreement.
“Our special concern, of course, is caused by the situation in the European region, particularly, of course, in Ukraine,” Putin said, according to Sputnik. “Western countries are deliberately escalating tensions. They are the ones who brought us to today’s tragedy and continue to aggravate the situation. Such irresponsible policies are pushing the world to the brink of a global conflict.”
Putin is not the only one saying that a world war is imminent. The Belarusian President recently said the globe is on brink of world war three as well.
Discussions are currently underway to send European soldiers to fight and die in Ukraine and the outgoing U.S. administration reportedly has a ‘rock-solid’ commitment to join NATO in battle.
RT documented these nine points from the meeting in Minsk on Friday:
1. The decision on a deployment was made after a request of the Belarusian side.
2. The decision was made based on the security guarantees agreement signed today; we are waiting for the full text.
3. In any case, Oreshnik remains part of Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces (RSMF).
4. The deployment is planned using infrastructure from the Soviet era, which is not surprising, but the condition of this infrastructure needs to be further assessed. There are some doubts that this would require minimal expense.
5. We don’t know how exactly the Belarusian leadership will choose and convey the targets to certain missile regiments of the RSMF. We think it means while Belarus may have some input or influence in determining targets, the final decision-making authority rests with another party – probably an advisory voice without a vote.
6. An even bigger question is how the combat control system will look like added to the new version of the medium-range missiles.
7. It is true that the power of the warhead is inversely related to the range, the South Koreans can confirm this.
8. We hope that the comparison of the outcomes between a group strike using high-precision non-nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons focused on the ability to hit specific types of targets, rather than on the level of destruction each weapon can cause.
9. It’s worth noting that the deployment is planned for the second half of 2025. We think that Russia has given Donald Trump’s administration about half a year to engage in a constructive dialogue about the moratorium.