Lukashenko asks Putin for Oreshnik missile system and receives approval

Belarusian self-proclaimed president Alexander Lukashenko has asked Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to deploy the Russian so-called Oreshnik medium-range ballistic missile system on the territory of Belarus.

Source: Lukashenko at a meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Union State on 6 December, quoted by Belarus' state-run news agency BelTA; Putin quoted by RIA Novosti, a Kremlin-aligned Russian news outlet

Details: Lukashenko noted that such a decision would strengthen the defence of both the Union State in the face of "the growing threat from the West" and Belarusian territory. [The Union State, or Union State of Russia and Belarus, is a supranational union consisting of Belarus and Russia, with the stated aim of deepening the relationship between the two states through integration in economic and defence policy - ed.]

Putin replied that he believes it is possible to deploy Oreshnik in Belarus in the second half of 2025.

Putin added that the military and political leadership of Minsk would determine the "potential targets" of the Oreshnik system from the territory of Belarus.

Previously: Russian ruler Vladimir Putin arrived in Minsk to attend a meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Union State on 6 December.

Background:

• Ukraine’s Air Force noted that during the latest missile attack on the city of Dnipro, Russia used an intercontinental ballistic missile. Ukrainska Pravda sources reported that it could have been a Rubezh missile, a potential carrier of nuclear warheads.
• In his Thursday address, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin indirectly confirmed US reports, stating that during the morning attack on Dnipro on 21 November, Russia used the Oreshnik medium-range missile.
• The United States officially confirmed that Russia struck Dnipro on the morning of 21 November with a ballistic missile based on the RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile.
• On 22 November, Defence Intelligence of Ukraine announced that Russia had struck the territory of Ukraine on 21 November, using a ballistic missile, probably launched from the Kedr missile system.
• Kyrylo Budanov, Head of Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, noted that Oreshnik was the name of a research project, "it's just a code". He said that as of October 2024, Russia was supposed to have produced two experimental samples of the Kedr missile system, one of which struck Dnipro on 21 November.
• On 28 November, Putin announced the alleged start of mass production of the Oreshnik system. He said he could use the Oreshnik missile against "decision-making centres in Kyiv".

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