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The authoritarian President of Belarus said this on Thursday Russia The country had deployed its latest nuclear-capable Orasonic missile system, a move that comes as talks are underway to end the war. ukraine Has entered a decisive stage.
President Alexander Lukashenko said the Oreshnik, an intermediate-range ballistic missile system, arrived in the country on Wednesday and is entering combat duty. He did not say how many missiles were deployed or provide any other details.
Russian President Vladimir Putin Said on Wednesday that Oresnik would enter combat duty this month, but gave no other details. Putin made this statement in a meeting with top Russian military officials, where he warned moscow If Ukraine tries to increase its profits Kyiv And its Western allies reject the Kremlin’s demands in peace talks.
US President Donald Trump has led a sweeping diplomatic effort to end the nearly four-year war following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but Washington’s efforts have faced sharply conflicting demands from Moscow and Kiev.
Russia has previously deployed tactical nuclear weapons on its territory in Belarus, whose territory it used to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Lukashenko had previously said that his country possessed several dozen Russian tactical nuclear weapons.
Russia first tested a conventionally armed version of the Oreshnik – Russian for hazelnut tree – to attack a Ukrainian factory in November 2024, and Putin has claimed it is impossible to stop. He has warned the West that Russia could next use it against Kiev’s allies who have allowed it to strike inside Russia with its long-range missiles.
The Russian leader has claimed that many of the Oreshnik’s warheads fall at speeds up to Mach 10 and cannot be stopped, and that many of them used in a conventional attack could be as destructive as a nuclear attack. Russian state media claimed that the missile would take only 11 minutes to reach the airport in Poland and 17 minutes to reach NATO headquarters in Brussels. There is no way to know before attacking a target whether it is carrying nuclear or conventional weapons.
Medium-range missiles can fly between 500 to 5,500 kilometers (310 to 3,400 mi). Such weapons were banned under a Soviet-era treaty that Washington and Moscow abandoned in 2019.
Putin and Lukashenko had previously said that the Oresnik would be deployed to Ukraine before the end of the year.
When signing a security agreement with Lukashenko in December 2024, Putin said that despite Russia controlling Oreshnik, Moscow would allow Minsk to choose the targets. He said that if the missiles were used against targets close to Belarus, they could carry a much heavier payload.
In 2024, the Kremlin issued a revised nuclear doctrine, stating that a conventional attack on Russia by any country supported by nuclear power would be considered a joint attack on its country. This threat was clearly intended to discourage the West from allowing Ukraine to attack Russia with long-range weapons and appears to significantly lower the threshold for the potential use of Russia’s nuclear arsenal.
The revised Russian doctrine also placed Belarus under the Russian nuclear umbrella.
Lukashenko has ruled the country of 9.5 million with an iron fist for more than three decades. His government has been repeatedly sanctioned by the West for cracking down on human rights and for allowing Moscow to use its territory during its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
While maintaining strong ties with Moscow, Lukashenko has also sought rapprochement with the US. On Saturday, Lukashenko released 123 political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatsky, as part of a deal with Washington that lifted US sanctions against Belarusian potash industries, a key source of export income.