Russia Prepares to Deploy ‘Oreshnik’ Missile in Belarus to Pressure Europe – Ukraine Foreign Intelligence

Russia is preparing to deploy launcher systems for its ‘Oreshnik’ medium-range ballistic missile in Belarus as part of a move aimed at pressuring Europe, Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service said.

Oleg Ivashchenko, head of the agency, said Ukrainian intelligence has observed preparations for the deployment, including the construction of military facilities for launchers, surveillance systems, and communications infrastructure.

“We see preparations for the deployment of the ‘Oreshnik’ medium-range ballistic missile on the territory of Belarus,” Ivashchenko told Ukrinform.

“Russia and Belarus are building facilities for the launcher, as well as surveillance and communications systems. These measures have not yet been completed.”

Plans to deploy the ‘Oreshnik’ missile in Belarus became public last year. In October, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said the Russian missile system would be placed on combat duty in December.

Ivashchenko said Russia could physically place the missile launcher in Belarus, but without the full infrastructure, it would serve only as a mock-up.

He said that even if the missile is deployed, Belarus would have no authority over its use. The missile would remain under the command of Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces.

According to Ukrainian intelligence, the planned deployment is intended to pressure European countries and NATO and to protect the missile from possible Ukrainian strikes. If stationed in Russia’s European territory, the missile would be a legitimate military target for Ukraine’s Defense Forces.

Ivashchenko said the deployment would allow Russia to shorten missile flight times and carry out sudden strikes against European capitals, compared with launches from the Kapustin Yar test site.

Ivashchenko has previously said Belarus does not host nuclear weapons, only missile delivery systems.

Russia’s first, and so far, only confirmed use of the so-called Oreshnik missile was in an attack on the city of Dnipro on Nov. 21. The missile is thought by Western analysts to be a modified Soviet-era Soviet RS-26 Rubezh medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM).

It has a claimed range in excess of 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) and carries six nuclear capable or conventional multiple independently re-targetable hypersonic re-entry vehicles (MIRVs).

In October, Ukraine’s Security Service chief Vasyl Maliuk said that the SBU, together with military intelligence, destroyed one of three Russian ‘Oreshnik’ missile launchers at Kapustin Yar in 2023. He said the operation was classified and that its results were known only to a few foreign presidents.