Belarus to Host Russia’s Oreshnik in Response to US Missiles in Germany
12:58 GMT 07.12.2024 (Updated: 13:10 GMT 07.12.2024)
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The state-of-the-art missile system is due to be situated in the second half of 2025.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to deploy the latest Russian weapons, including the Oreshnik system, on Belarusian soil on Friday following a meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Union State.
"The decision to deploy the Oreshnik system on the territory of the Republic of Belarus was made in response to the actions taken by the United States and Germany regarding the deployment of intermediate-range missiles in Europe. The Americans and Germans have repeatedly stated this before," the Belarusian Ministry of Defense's Telegram channel quoted Sergei Lagodyuk, deputy chief of staff of the Belarusian Armed Forces, as saying on Saturday.
5 December 2024, 14:01 GMT
Here are some official statements of the sides at the time.
Washington and Berlin: "The US will begin episodic deployments of the long-range firing capabilities of its multi-domain task force in Germany in 2026. These will include SM-6, Tomahawk, and developmental hypersonic weapons, which have significantly longer range than current land-based fires in Europe.”
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan: “What we are deploying to Germany is a defensive capability, like many other defensive capabilities we’ve deployed across the alliance, across the decades.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz: This is a "very good decision" which is “exactly in line” with the German government's security strategy. “The decision has been in the works for a long time and is not a real surprise for anyone involved in security and peace policy.”
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius: Germany needs a longer-term plan for investment in “appropriate long-range defense systems” to protect itself and Europe.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov: The move is “a very serious threat” to Russia, which would “take thoughtful, coordinated and effective measures to contain NATO."
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov: “Without nerves and emotions, we will develop, first of all, a military response” to the move, which is “just another link in the chain of a course of escalation”.
In response, the Russian leader agreed, stating that the deployment of Oreshnik in Belarus was possible in the second half of 2025.
