Belarus is building a secret military base less than 250 kilometers from the Polish border that could be used to house ballistic and even nuclear missiles, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has reported.
After analyzing satellite images of a site 60 kilometers from Minsk, journalists working for the broadcaster, in cooperation with Estonian publications Delfi Estonia and Eesti Ekspress, stated that construction of a military installation not mentioned in any official records began in June last year.
The report said the base is being built in the Slutsk district of Belarus’s Minsk region – which is about 245 kilometers from Poland’s eastern border – on a site where the Soviet Union kept nuclear weapons during the Cold War.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that no Belarusian officials or local media outlets have ever mentioned any construction projects in the area, which largely consisted of empty land before the project began.
Base will ‘probably be nuclear-armed’
Security analyst Konrad Muzyka, cited by the news outlet, said the base is “probably going to be nuclear-armed” or will have a nuclear component attached to it.
Muzyka added that it could also be used to deploy Russian-made Oreshnik ballistic missiles. This relatively new weapon saw its first confirmed use in war during a strike on Ukrainian targets last year.
Retired Finnish intelligence officer Major Marko Eklund also said the site looks like a future missile base, adding that it would be a “strategic level asset” not just for Belarus, but for its largest ally, Russia.
Satellite images published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on Wednesday appear to show several structures under construction, including hangars, walls, ammunition stores, and the foundations of what analysts say could be air defense systems.
Military action near NATO’s flanks
The report comes just days ahead of the scheduled “Zapad” military drills, a large-scale joint exercise between Belarus and Russia set to run from September 12-16 which Belarusian officials said would include practice planning for the deployment of nuclear weapons.
The suspected missile base near Minsk is not the only military installation being built near NATO’s flanks. Reports last month indicated that Moscow is developing a large-scale signals intelligence facility less than 100 kilometers from Poland and Lithuania in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
Facilities for a new Russian military garrison are also allegedly being built near the country’s border with Finland, which joined NATO following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.