Russia has begun building a military base for the placement of nuclear weapons in the Belarusian city of Asipovichy, located approximately 200 km from the border with Ukraine, writes The New York Times, which analyzed satellite images.

Construction of the facility began in 2023. Some of the built facilities have a number of features unique to nuclear storage facilities at bases in russia. So, the new highly secured area is surrounded by three levels of fencing in addition to the existing security perimeter of the entire base. Another characteristic feature is the covered loading platform, connected to a hidden underground bunker from Soviet times.

Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project of the Federation of American Scientists, believes that the construction of a base in Belarus “seems designed to unnerve NATO’s easternmost countries, but will not give russia a significant new military advantage in the region.”

Nuclear warheads are usually stored near military bases that have carriers of such weapons. The alleged nuclear storage facility is in the same city as Belarus’ Iskander missiles, which can be used to launch nuclear or conventional warheads. Russia delivered such complexes to Belarus in 2022. Moscow defines tactical warheads as weapons with a range of up to 300 kilometers. Potentially, such a missile is capable of hitting a target in the Baltic states, Ukraine and Poland.

In 2023, new fences were erected at the Asipovichy base to create a high-security zone, and the covered area was reconstructed, including the truck area, which now has a new roof protected from surveillance from above. Similar designs correspond to the nuclear storage facilities used in the USSR.

William Moon, a former employee of the Pentagon’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency, said that this level of modernization at the base reminded him of the russian nuclear warhead storage facilities he had personally seen.

“When we were working on their standards, they demanded that the facilities have a triple fence,” the expert clarified, adding that he “worked with Moscow on the topic of safe storage of nuclear warheads.”

According to him, living quarters for employees of the military unit that will control nuclear weapons are planned to be built at the base. In the pictures available to the publication, three new buildings are visible, intended for either administration or barracks, and another area is being cleared for possible construction.

In 2023, at the Asipovichy base, a checkpoint was added to the triple fence zone – a covered inspection area next to the guardhouse. According to Michael Duitsman, an arms control expert at the California Institute of International Studies, this type of construction has become a unique feature of russian nuclear facilities, “which are not found at other russian bases.”

© 2024 Ukrainian News Agency