Putin Says Oreshnik Missiles Can Be Placed In Belarus's Allies Mid-2025

JAKARTA - President Vladimir Putin said Russia could place its new Oreshnik medium-range hypersonic missile in its allied Belarus region in the second half of next year.

Putin responded to a colleague from Belarus Alexander Lukashenko's request at a summit in Minsk, where the two leaders signed a joint defense pact.

"Regarding the possibility of deploying weapons that are, frankly, resilient like Oreshnik in Belarus, as today we have signed an agreement on security guarantees by using all available forces and facilities, I consider deploying systems such as Oreshnik in the territory of the Republic of Belarus to be feasible," Putin said. reported by Reuters, Friday, December 6.

"I think this will be possible in the second half of next year, along with the increasing production of this system series in Russia and when this missile system enters service with Russian strategic power," Putin continued.

Russia fired Oreshnik into the city in Ukraine last month in what Putin described as the first test of the weapon in combat.

Putin claims this weapon is impossible to intercept, the Orestnik Missile has destructive power comparable to nuclear weapons, even when equipped with a conventional warhead.

Some Western experts are skeptical of Putin's claim to the missile, which they say is based on a system Russia has tested as an intercontinental weapon before stopping its development.

Putin told Lukashenko Belarus that he would determine the Orestnik target based on his territory.

The two men met in the Belarusian capital on Friday to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Union State, an indefinite unity and alliance between the former Soviet republics.

Nuclear weapons were withdrawn from Belarus after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, but Putin announced last year Russia placed a tactical nuclear missile there as a deterrent to the West.

Lukashenko, who has been in power in Belarus since 1994, said in October that any use of Russian nuclear weapons now used in Belarus would require his personal approval.