Russia to supply Belarus with Oreshnik missile system. When and on what terms?

Russia will supply Belarus with the Oreshnik missile system. This decision was made on December 6 by the presidents of Belarus and Russia, Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin, following a meeting of the Supreme State Council, BELTA reports.

After the signing ceremony, Alexander Lukashenko noted that he would like to raise another issue "in connection with the established good, brotherly relations." According to the Belarusian leader, it was not discussed at the meeting of the Supreme State Council itself, but the President touched on this topic during the recent CSTO summit in Astana.

"The issue is very serious, and it is better for it to be open than for there to be various conspiracy theories and problems later," Alexander Lukashenko said.

The head of state said that Belarus is very concerned about the situation in Western Europe, especially near the Belarusian borders on the side of Poland and Lithuania. "We assess this as an even greater danger than from Ukraine," he emphasized.

The President drew attention to the fact that troops from Poland and Lithuania are deployed in the immediate vicinity of the Belarusian border, and NATO forces from other countries, including Germany, are being pulled in. "That is, the situation is very tense. Poland is spending huge resources on arming its army. If they want to live in peace with us, as they say, then why spend billions of dollars on weapons?" Alexander Lukashenko asked rhetorically. "In short, this makes us very wary. And this is already a threat to our joint group"

In this regard, the President addressed Vladimir Putin: "I want to publicly ask you to deploy new weapons systems, and first of all, the Oreshnik, on the territory of Belarus. This would seriously calm some "minds" that are already ready to fight against Belarus."

Why does Belarus need the Oreshnik?

In his opinion, such deployment is also appropriate within the framework of the recently adopted Security Concept and the Treaty on Security Guarantees in the Union State. "We have certain places where we can deploy these weapons. With only one condition - that the targets for these weapons will be determined by the military-political leadership of Belarus. In the meantime, you will train us to use these weapons, if this is done (a positive decision is made on deployment in Belarus - BELTA note), so that specialists from the Russian Federation service and launch Oreshnik warheads at specific targets. You know how to do this, you demonstrated this recently," said Alexander Lukashenko.

He emphasized that this would significantly strengthen the defense of the Union State and, of course, Belarusian territory. "We are reproached: nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons - deployed and so on. This (Oreshnik - BelTA note) is not a nuclear weapon, but it is very effective," the Belarusian leader noted. "I ask you to consider it once again. This would be a good support not only for my request, but also for the Belarusian people."

What is unique about Oreshnik?

Vladimir Putin, in turn, recalled that following the meeting, an agreement on security guarantees was signed. This document defines mutual allied obligations to ensure the defense of Belarus and Russia using all available forces and means. "That is why we agreed to satisfy the requests of the Republic of Belarus for the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons," the Russian President said.

According to the Russian leader, such new missile systems as Oreshnik have no analogues in the world. "For two reasons. Firstly, unlike weapons of mass destruction, this is a high-precision weapon; it does not strike at areas and achieves results not due to its power, but due to its accuracy. Secondly, in the case of group use of one, two, three complexes, in terms of strike force it is the same as a nuclear one, but does not contaminate the area, does not have any radiation consequences, since there is no nuclear component in the warhead of these missiles," Vladimir Putin explained.

Will Russia deploy Oreshnik in Belarus

"I believe that the deployment of systems such as Oreshnik on the territory of the Republic of Belarus is possible. I think this will become possible in the second half of next year: as serial production of such systems in Russia increases and as these missile systems enter service with the Russian strategic forces. These systems will enter service with the Strategic Missile Forces (Strategic Missile Forces - BELTA note) of Russia and at the same time we will begin to deploy them on the territory of Belarus," the Russian President said. "And, of course, there are a number of technical issues that must be resolved by specialists, namely, determining the minimum range taking into account the priorities of ensuring the security of the Republic of Belarus."