Belarus is intimidating by deploying Oreshnik on its territory: what was the response in Ukraine?
Minsk is once again trying to justify the presence of Russian weapons on its territory. Belarusian Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov said that the country was allegedly “forced” to deploy tactical nuclear weapons and Oreshnik ballistic missiles to guarantee its own security.
His words were spoken during a speech at the UN headquarters in New York at an event marking the International Day for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.
“We were left with no choice. Belarus was forced to deploy Russian tactical nuclear weapons to guarantee its security. For the same purposes, Russian Oreshnik ballistic missiles will be deployed on the territory of Belarus. We will not get involved in a thoughtless arms race, we will not provoke further confrontation,” Ryzhenkov said.
The NSDC’s Center for Countering Disinformation explained that this is more of an information operation by the Kremlin.
“Belarus hosted a Russian information operation called “Oreshnik”, the second launch of which was unsuccessful – it did not even fly on time. But the Russians did not tell anyone about this,” stressed the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, Andriy Kovalenko.
It should be noted that earlier the Main Intelligence Directorate denied information about new attempts by Russia to use the Oreshnik ballistic missile against Ukraine. The representative of the GUR of the Ministry of Defense, Andriy Yusov, stated in a comment to LIGA.net that after the attack on the Dnieper in November 2024, there were no confirmed facts of the launch or testing of the missile. According to him, the strike at that time was aimed at putting pressure on Ukraine and its allies, and the repeated use of the Oreshnik is possible only by Putin’s decision.
Earlier, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, during a meeting with the self-proclaimed President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, stated that the first serial model of the Oreshnik ballistic missile system had already been transferred to the Russian army .
Meanwhile, the Financial Times reported that Russian companies, despite sanctions, are likely using Western technology to produce advanced weapons, including Oreshnik missiles .
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