For the first time since 1991: Belarus builds a base for nuclear weapons - NYT research (photo)
About it writes The New York Times. There are already places of nuclear warheads in the Russian Federation, near the border with Ukraine and NATO countries. Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned such structures at the beginning of the year. According to him, bases for tactical nuclear weapons will soon appear in Belarus. The facility is about 200 km north of the Ukrainian border on a military warehouse near the city of Osipovichi.
The peculiarities of some of the newly built structures there are characteristic of nuclear repositories on the bases within the Russian Federation. For example, a new, especially protected area is surrounded by three levels of the fence in addition to the perimeter of safety of the entire base. The indoor load platform, perhaps, connected to the underground hopper of the Soviet era is another sign.
Hans Kristensen from the Federation of American scientists, who analyzed this territory, believes that nuclear development in Belarus seems to be designed to make NATO nervous countries. But the emergence of new complexes for nuclear weapons does not give Russia a new significant military advantage in the region. Russia defines tactical nuclear weapons as weapons up to 300 km. Nuclear programs are so secret that it is quite possible in Belarus to have other places with warheads.
The Kremlin could also move some of them in Osipovich. Nuclear warheads are usually stored near military bases, where it is possible to deliver these weapons. The expected nuclear storage facility is located in the same region of Belarus as Iskander missiles that can be used to start nuclear or conventional warheads. "Isanders" appeared in Belarus in 2022.
In 2023, when new fences were built on the basis of Osipovichi to create a high-security area, they were also reconstructed closed territory, including a truck load, where there is a new roof that protects any activity from above. These reconstructions correspond to what can be seen in other former Soviet nuclear repositories.
William Mun, an independent consultant and former Pentagon employee, said that the construction in Osipovichi with a triple fence, one main entrance and a spare exit is reminiscent of Russian nuclear warheads storage, which he saw in person. In addition to the additional security level, it also awaits a separate premises for the Russian military unit, which is responsible for nuclear warheads.
Three new buildings, which, apparently intended for administrative use or for barracks, have been erected at the entrance to the depot, and another territory is now cleared by bulldozers. In 2023, at the entrance to the triple fence, a checkpoint appeared-a covered area of inspection near the guard room.
According to Michael Duytsman from the Middleberian Institute, over the past two decades, these types of structures have become an indispensable part of nuclear objects in the Russian Federation. In recent weeks, the construction of new buildings has begun. It is reported that the details are unclear, but construction clearly entered a new phase. The air defense system was also transported to protect the object.
Since September, one of the air defense machines is stationed in the field about one and a half kilometers from the hopper. According to William Alberk, the former head of the Analytical Center of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), the Soviet Union began to place rocket-nuclear brigades in Josipovichi and the surrounding area in the 1960s. After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, all nuclear weapons from Belarus were removed.