Oreshnik missiles in Belarus yet another “boogeyman story” - disinfo watchdog

Head of the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Andriy Kovalenko, commented on the recent reports of the alleged deployment of Russia’s Oreshnik ballistic missiles in Belarus, calling it a spectacle and yet another horror story.

This is stated in his Telegram post, seen by Ukrinform.

“The spectacle involving the Oreshnik in Belarus is yet another boogeyman story, of whose effectiveness Putin was convinced by Kirienko and Patrushev. For now, it is a PR thing. However, even the potential deployment of the Oreshnik there does not pose more threats to Ukraine or NATO, at least because there is no difference whether it will be launched from Kapustin Yar (a launch site in Russia – ed.) or from Belarus. All this talk about shorter approach times is a boogeyman story for civilians in the West and Ukraine,” Kovalenko said.

He stressed that “this will play no role for missile defense systems” and recalled that “just like it was with the Kinzhal, which was shot down by the Patriot system for the first time in history last year.”

“But as for the deployment, a number of technical issues would have to be resolved. Russia’s main goal is to raise stakes by spreading fear in the West. Nuclear weapons in Belarus didn’t work in terms of information influence, and now the Oreshnik is being used as a bubble in response to Ukraine having been allowed to use Western long-range weapons against targets inside Russia. So the deployment in Belarus will be promoted purely in terms of PR under the narrative of ‘Oreshnik approaching NATO borders’ in order to shift public sentiment in Europe,” the head of the disinformation watchdog believes.

As reported earlier, after signing the agreement on security guarantees between the "Union State of Belarus" and Russia in Minsk, Alexander Lukashenko asked Vladimir Putin to deploy new weapons systems in Belarus, including the Oreshnik ballistic missiles.