Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said Belarus will deploy no more than 10 Russian Oreshnik medium-range ballistic missile systems, after previously indicating Moscow could station more of the complexes in the country. His remarks were reported December 22 by the Belarusian state news agency BelTA.
Asked how many systems Belarus has received and whether Minsk got the “ten” he had requested from Russian President Vladimir Putin, Lukashenko replied: “Ten will be the maximum.”
A year ago, Lukashenko said Russia would hand over an initial 10 Oreshnik systems and the number could later increase. “If the Russians want to deploy more of them, we will deploy more,” he said at the time. BelTA recalled that Putin, passing by, raised both hands and said: “No, well, ten is…”
A month after that exchange, Lukashenko said he had been “joking” about receiving 10 systems, calling it “crazy money,” and suggested one would be sufficient for Belarus.
On December 18, Lukashenko said the experimental road-mobile ground-based missile system Oreshnik had assumed combat duty in Belarus.
Deliveries began after the joint Russian-Belarusian four-day drills “Zapad-2025.”
On December 19, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine knows where in Belarus the Oreshnik will be deployed and has shared the information with partners.
He also noted that Russia has already used the Oreshnik to strike Ukraine, saying Kyiv knows how to counter the missiles.
Pavlo Lakiychuk, head of security programs at the Center for Global Studies “Strategy XXI” and a member of the coordinating council of the Public League “Ukraine–NATO,” said on December 19 that the Oreshnik presence in Belarus increases risks for Ukraine and European countries, but in theory the missile could be intercepted by Patriot and SAMP/T air-defense systems.
He added that the U.S. Aegis system could also intercept the Oreshnik.
