Politics Belarus expects newly developed Russian missiles
Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko expects the new Russian medium-range missile Oreshnik to be deployed in his country soon. "We will get Oreshnik in the next few days," said Lukashenko at a press conference lasting several hours on the day of the presidential election in Minsk.
26.01.2025, 15:22
SDA
He claimed that it had been agreed with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin that the new missile would be delivered to Belarus before its first deployment in Russia. There was initially no confirmation of his statements from Moscow.
Last November, Russia had fired at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro with the allegedly newly developed medium-range missile, codenamed Oreshnik (hazel bush). Putin threatened that the hypersonic missile could also hit targets in Western Europe. According to Western experts, the weapon can be equipped with nuclear weapons. Putin rather emphasized that it could carry powerful conventional warheads.
Lukashenko: Not as terrible as a nuclear missile
Lukashenko also spoke of a conventional weapon: Oreshnik is a terrible weapon, "but not that kind", he said. For the time being, Belarus wants one of these systems to protect against new US medium-range missiles in Europe. He named the eastern border of Belarus, close to Smolensk in Russia, as a possible deployment site.
