Moscow, Minsk rehearse nuclear weapons launch at joint drills, says Belarus president

ISTANBUL

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Tuesday that his country and Russia are rehearsing the launch of nuclear weapons during joint military exercises.

Speaking at an awards ceremony in Minsk, Lukashenko said “everything” is being practiced during the Zapad 2025 drills, which began Friday and will conclude Tuesday.

“Starting from shooting from regular small arms to nuclear warheads. Again, we must be able to do all of this. Otherwise, why is it on the territory of Belarus?” Lukashenko was quoted as saying by state news agency Belta.

He denied that the drills posed a threat and said Western countries were aware of them.

Lukashenko added that Belarus is capable of responding to “any aggressor.”

“We are not trying to conquer anyone, because we will not be able to conquer. We understand this perfectly well. There are strong states around us, what can we say? But we are always ready to inflict unacceptable damage if someone sets foot on our land,” he said.

Chief of the General Staff Pavel Muraveiko said that the joint drills were practicing the possible use of non-strategic nuclear weapons and the deployment of the Oreshnik missile system, according to the Belarusian Defense Ministry.

The Oreshnik, a Russian-made intermediate-range ballistic missile, was first used in November 2024, when Moscow said it struck a plant in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro in response to Kyiv’s use of Western-supplied long-range weapons on Russian territory.

Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said a decision on supplying the Oreshnik missile to Belarus would be made by the end of 2025, with preparations for its deployment already underway.