Amid the Ukraine war, the biggest land war in Europe since 1945, Osipovichi is again being enclosed by the tentacles of distant tumult
Osipovichi, Belarus — A Belarusian town with a turbulent past may hold some haunting new secrets: an empty camp that mutinous Russian mercenaries have yet to use and perhaps even a storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons Russia says it has deployed in Belarus.
In a former military camp surrounded by fir and birch forest just north of Osipovichi, more than 300 large tents have been put up by the Belarusian army, but Wagner mercenaries have yet to say if they want to use it.
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Amid today’s Ukraine war, the biggest land war in Europe since 1945, the town is again being enclosed by the tentacles of distant tumult.
Just east of the town, nestled behind forest, lies a secret installation that the US Central Intelligence Agency believes was visited by a senior Russian officer as a potential upgrade to nuclear weapons storage, according to the Federation of American Scientists.
Its top nuclear researcher, Hans Kristensen, said in a research note that it had yet to find visual evidence conclusively indicating the presence of an active nuclear weapons facility on the territory of Belarus.
Asked about the research which indicated the installation might be used for nuclear weapons, Kasinsky said: “Perhaps the CIA thinks that; I don’t know what that’s based on.
“No-one is ever going to tell you where the tactical nuclear weapons are stationed — you should understand that,” Kasinsky said. He repeatedly refused to confirm or deny whether the nuclear weapons were outside Osipovichi.
To the west of Osipovichi is a training base where nuclear-capable Iskander short-range missile launchers that Russia transferred to Belarus in 2022 have been spotted. Iskanders are one of the delivery vehicles for the nuclear warheads which Minsk and Moscow now say are in Belarus.
New hazards of war enclose Belarusian town with turbulent past (businesslive.co.za)