President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia had begun production of new hypersonic missiles and confirmed its intention to deploy them in allied Belarus by the end of this year.
Standing next to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on the island of Valaam, near St Petersburg, Mr Putin said the military had already identified sites for the deployment of the Oreshnik medium-range ballistic missile in Belarus.
“Preparatory activities are ongoing, and we will most likely complete them by the end of the year,” Mr. Putin noted, adding that the first batch of Oreshniks and their systems had already been produced and accepted into service.
Russia first used Oreshnik, which translates from Russian as “walnut tree,” against Ukraine in November, when it fired an experimental weapon at a plant in Dnepr that made missiles when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union.
Mr Putin praised the Oreshnik's high performance, saying its multiple warheads, which can reach targets at speeds of up to Mach 10, are undetectable and so powerful that using several of them in a single conventional strike could cause devastating consequences comparable to a nuclear attack.
He warned the West that Moscow could use the weapons against Ukraine's NATO allies, allowing Kyiv to use its longer-range missiles to attack Russian territory.
The commander of Russia's missile forces said the Oreshnik, which can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads, has a range that allows it to reach all of Europe.
Medium-range missiles can travel between 310 and 3,400 miles. Such weapons were banned under a Soviet-era treaty that Washington and Moscow withdrew from in 2019.
Last fall, Putin and Lukashenko signed an agreement giving Belarus security guarantees from Moscow, including the possible use of Russian nuclear weapons in response to any aggression.
The deal comes after the Kremlin revised its nuclear doctrine, which for the first time placed Belarus under Russia's nuclear umbrella amid growing tensions with the West over the conflict in Ukraine.
Mr Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus with an iron fist for more than 30 years and relies on subsidies and support from the Kremlin, has allowed Russia to use his country's territory to send troops into Ukraine in 2022 and to host part of its tactical nuclear arsenal.
Russia does not disclose the number of such weapons it has deployed, but Mr Lukashenko said in December that his country currently has several dozen of them.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
