Belarus Special Weapons

Belarus became a non-nuclear weapons state in November 1996. Belarus views that obligation of the nuclear weapon states under NPT Article VI to pursue negotiations on effective measures relating to nuclear disarmament constitutes main strategic goal of the Treaty. Belaru supports reasonable and phased approach to nuclear disarmament. Belarus welcomed the signing by Russia and the United States in 2010 of a new Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START-3) and its' 5-year extension in February 2021, as a next step on the path to nuclear arms reduction.

Having been a full-fledged party to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) since 1992, Belarus withdrew 584 intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles with a subsequent liquidation on the firing grounds of the former USSR. Belarus considered INF Treaty as one of the most important element of the modern architecture of the international and regional security and regretted its termination in August 2019. With a view to filling the legal vacuum after the Treaty’s termination President Aleksandr Lukashenko put forward an initiative on adoption of a multilateral political declaration on non-deployment of intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles in Europe.

Belarus did not have any stored chemical weapons or any production capacity, and had no plans to establish any. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, Belarus also had no biological warfare program. As a Soviet Republic, Belarus had signed and ratified the 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention and accordingly, did not have any biological weapons on its territory in the mid-1990s.

Belarus recognizes the role of international export control regimes as one of the instruments for curbing the illicit proliferation of nuclear materials, equipment and technology. Belarus has been a member of Nuclear Suppliers Group since 2000. Belarus adheres to the ruling principles of the group when it makes decisions on the supplies of controlled items. In 2010 Belarus’ membership in Zangger Committee was formalized. Belarus supports objectives and principles of three other international export control regimes – The Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), The Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) and the Australia Group. Belarus is one of the co-founders of The Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (HCOC). Belarus is one of the Code’s co-founders and regularly prepares and submits annual declarations on the absence of missile program and on the participation in the international non-proliferation efforts.

President Lukashenko explained why Belarus needs missiles and what strategic tasks were set for Belarus' defense system as he inspected the OKB TSP research and manufacturing company in Machulishchi near Minsk on 22 May 2021. “We will discuss the production of missiles. It would be great if all the countries of the world pulled the plug on wars. However, no one is going to do it yet despite epidemics, pandemics, hysterics. Wars have not been abolished. Unfortunately, people have to get ready for it during peaceful times. There is no escaping it. Unless you get ready for it now, you will face the consequences later, God forbid, of course,” the head of state said. “Now we will examine how we have fulfilled the program to produce high-precision missiles and other missiles,” the president concluded.

The country started assembling Chinese missiles and is developing its own weaponry capable of reaching targets out to 300km in range. So far this project is running behind the schedule. “We need our own missile. If we have to rely on other countries to produce a certain weapon, we should not produce such a weapon. No one will simply give away such a weapon to us. We were lucky to strike a deal with the Chinese; we really appreciate their help. However, we should not depend on anyone anymore,” the president emphasized.

The engineers assured the head of state that the first prototype of this 300km missile would be developed by September 2021. They said that they were considering missile ranges of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia to test this missile. However, Russia does not want to provide its testing areas so far. “Do not kneel in front of Russians. By refusing to collaborate in developing this missile and by refusing to provide even a testing area they are sending us a signal,” the president said.