MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia could deploy its new Oreshnik intermediate-range hypersonic missile on the territory of Belarus in the second half of next year as it begins to ramp up its production.
Putin was responding to a request from Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko at a summit in Minsk, where the two leaders signed a mutual defence pact.
“Since we have today signed an agreement on security guarantees using all available forces and means, I consider the deployment of such systems as the Oreshnik on the territory of the Republic of Belarus to be feasible,” Putin said.
The Russian President unveiled the nuclear-capable weapon last month after using it to strike the city of Dnipro in central Ukraine.
“As for the possibility of deploying, to put it bluntly, such formidable weapons as Oreshnik on Belarusian territory… it will become possible, I think, in the second half of next year,” Putin said in a televised meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk.
He said this would happen as “serial production” of the missile is “ramped up in Russia”.
Russia had already deployed tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus in 2023.
Experts believe the new missile flies at 10 times the speed of sound and may be able to strike targets up to 5,500 kilometres (3,400 miles) away.
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Tactical nuclear weapons, designed for use on the battlefield, are smaller than the strategic nuclear weapons used to wipe out whole cities but are still extremely destructive.
In November, Putin said that the missile strikes were a response to Ukraine using Western long-range missiles on Russian territory.
Putin also warned that Russia could use the new missile to strike military facilities of Kyiv’s Western allies that allow Ukraine to use their weapons for attacks on Russian territory. – Agencies
