Summary
- Satellite images show construction of a potential military facility in Belarus, possibly for Russian strategic missiles.
- The site near Minsk, previously used for Soviet nuclear weapons, is being redeveloped with extensive new structures and roads.
- Experts suggest the facility could have strategic significance, possibly linked to nuclear-capable systems like Russia's Oreshnik missile.
Construction is under way on a site in Belarus experts say looks like a military facility that could potentially house Russian strategic missiles, according to satellite images examined by RFE/RL and its partners in an investigative project.
Images from Planet Labs of the sprawling site in the Slutsk district, 60 kilometers south of Minsk, show substantial construction on what TV footage from May 2024 indicates was in part an empty field at the time.
Belarusian authorities have been secretive about the project, which is located on a site that housed nuclear-capable missiles during the Soviet era and is the subject of an investigation by RFE/RL's Belarus Service along with Schemes, the investigative unit of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, and the Estonian media outlets Delfi Estonia and Eesti Ekspress.
There are no references to the changes in official public documents, no coverage in local media, and no updates of cadastral maps indicating land allocation for such a site. Neither authoritarian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko nor any other official has made an announcement about it. Attempts to reach the Defense Ministry for comment were unsuccessful.
SEE ALSO: Lukashenko's Secret Bases: Mapping Military Sites In BelarusThe construction comes as Russia ramps up military cooperation with its ally Belarus while pressing its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in a war that has vastly increased tensions with the NATO and the West. A buffer state for Russia, Belarus is bordered on the south by Ukraine and on the west and northwest by NATO members Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has boasted about the development of a new hypersonic, intermediate-range ballistic missile called the Oreshnik, which Moscow says it tested in an attack on Ukraine last November.
In December, Putin said Oreshnik systems would be deployed in Belarus simultaneously with their introduction into the Russian Strategic Missile Forces (RVSN), possibly in the second half of this year.
A Planet Labs satellite image from August 31 shows four separate construction areas at the site near Paulauka, Belarus, 60 kilometers south of Minsk, linked by roads.
A satellite image from August 31 shows four distinct sections at the site near the village of Paulauka encompassing more than 2 square kilometers, the equivalent of about 280 soccer fields, all connected by new roads.
A Planet Labs image from August 13 shows the largest and westernmost of the four sectors at the site.
Images from August 13 show numerous structures in the largest section, including what appear to be 13 ammunition depots surrounded by protective walls and three larger sheds or hangars, each about 100 meters long, as well as foundations for several other buildings.
Footage broadcast on a Belarusian military TV channel on May 28 shows the largest sector at the site before construction began.
With construction ongoing, experts interviewed by RFE/RL said it is hard to assess precisely what kind of military facility will emerge. But Konrad Muzyka, director of the security analysis firm Rochan Consulting, said the layout of the site suggests a strategic purpose.
"The image that captures all the facilities that are currently being created, all of them are linked by a road. And it's very clear that there is an essential linkage between all of these facilities," Muzyka told RFE/RL.
"My assessment would be that these bases are linked to some sort of strategic level equipment that can be deployed to Belarus. Whether that's Oreshnik or something else, we will see, but it's definitely a strategic significance," Muzyka said.
"It is probably going to be nuclear-armed or it will probably be a nuclear component attached to it because they are using the facilities that were already used to house such…equipment during the Cold War," he added.
A Planet Labs image from August 13 shows the northern sector of the site.
A satellite image of the northern section of the site, once farmland, shows eight hangar-like frames, while a nearly 150-meter-long building was going up in the eastern parcel, with earth mounds piled nearby.
The eastern parcel of the site is shown in a Planet Labs image from August 13.
In the southeastern section, still at the earthworks stage, several roads appeared to be taking shape. This parcel sits on the highest hill in the Slutsk district, known as Signal Hill, which some observers suggest could make it suitable for air defense systems.
A Planet Labs image from August 13 shows the southeastern sector at the site, an area known locally as Signal Hill.
Marko Eklund, a retired Finnish major and military intelligence officer who spent more than 20 years analyzing the Russian military and now works with satellite imagery, told Eesti Ekspress that the site resembles a strategic missile base.
"Strategic missile bases are the same. I can't say what else it could be," Eklund said. "Here the new one has one big and three small. There are some kind of warehouses in the central area and then there are bunkers. If there was to be an Oreshnik base, they could fit the bill."
Muzyka raised the question of whether it's Belarus or Russia footing the bill. But he said that in any case, he believes both Minsk and Moscow will consider it "to be a strategic level asset."
A Planet Labs image from August 13 shows a partial view of the largest parcel at the site.
Belarus is Russia's only real military ally, though political ties are sometimes tense. It has supported the invasion of Ukraine in several ways, including allowing Russia to use its territory as a jumping-off point for the full-scale invasion in 2022 but has not sent its own troops.
Last month, the Belarusian defense chief said annual joint exercises due to start on September 12 will include drills on the planned use of nuclear weapons and the Oreshnik, which Russia says is nuclear-capable.
Putin has repeatedly said Russian nuclear weapons would be deployed to Belarusian territory, and Lukashenko has said the Oreshnik would be deployed in Belarus by the end of the year.
A Nuclear Past
The project site was part of the Soviet nuclear arsenal in the past. From 1959 until 1993, the area hosted the garrison of the Slutsk-based 306th Strategic Missile Regiment. In 1960, it became home to the 1057th repair and technical base, responsible for "nuclear-technical support" of the regiment.
Initially, the regiment was equipped with ballistic missiles with a range of up to 2,100 kilometers. In 1981, mobile systems with a range of up to 5,000 kilometers arrived. In 1989, the unit began rearming with Topol ICBMs with an 11,000-kilometer range.
Belarus joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1993, becoming the first country to voluntarily give up the nuclear arsenal it inherited in the 1991 collapse of the USSR. That same year, the 306th regiment was withdrawn from combat duty and redeployed to Russia, where it was later disbanded.
Belarusian military sappers during the demining of the site near the village of Paulauka in May 2024.
In September 1996, the site still hosted an artillery munitions depot, but it subsequently fell into disuse. Parts of the former base remained littered with abandoned fortifications, missile silos, bunkers, and sheds.
Redevelopment began in spring of 2024, with military sappers clearing the area of unexploded ordnance, destroying 2,800 munitions across 2.5 square kilometers by June 7, according to local authorities. Clearing and earthworks then began, and the pace of construction accelerated this year.