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Updated April 2010
Introduction
Belarus has no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in its possession. As a signatory to a number of arms reduction treaties, Minsk transferred all of its Soviet-era nuclear warheads to Russia in the 1990s. It does not possess biological or chemical warfare programs. Though Belarus inherited no major production or design facilities from the Soviet Union, a number of firms continue cooperation with Russian missile/space enterprises.
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Nuclear
When Belarus gained independence in December 1991, there were 81 road-mobile SS-25s on its territory stationed at three missile bases, and an unknown number of tactical nuclear weapons. However, following Minsk's ratification of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in February 1993 and accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) as a non-nuclear weapon state in July 1993, Belarus transferred all of its nuclear weapons to Russia by November 1996. No nuclear forces have been stationed in Belarus since then, although the possibility of stationing Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus was broached by a number of Belarusian officials in the late 1990s.
Belarus has a developed civilian nuclear research program. There are ongoing efforts as part of the Global Threat Reduction Initiative to convert a booster subcritical assembly, housed at the Sosny facility, near Minsk, from highly enriched uranium to low enriched uranium fuel as well as repatriate Belarus' stockpile of fresh and spent highly enriched uranium fuel. Minsk is actively seeking to construct a nuclear power plant in order to expand its indigenous energy generation options. However, although it appears likely that Atomstroyeksport will construct the plant, there are both financial and environmental questions over the project's feasibility.
Biological
Belarus does not have a biological warfare (BW) program, and there is no indication that it has plans to establish such a program in the future. Although Belarus was a Soviet republic in 1972, it is a signatory of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC), which it ratified in 1975.
Chemical
In January 1992, Russian President Boris Yeltsin declared that all former Soviet chemical weapons had been transferred to Russia. Minsk does not have a chemical warfare (CW) program, nor does it have any plans to establish such a program in the future. Belarus is a State Party of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which it ratified in 1996.
Missile
Belarus inherited no major production or design facilities from the Soviet Union. However, a number of Belarusian firms continue cooperation with Russian missile/space enterprises, including the Minsk Wheeled Prime Mover Plant (MZKT), which produced transporter-erector launcher (TEL) vehicles for SS-25 and SS-27 road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Some Belarusian enterprises also successfully market and export upgrades, repairs, and refurbishment of Soviet-designed short-range surface-to-air missile systems. Russia has recently completed transfers of the S-300 [NATO Designation: SA-10 'Grumble'] air defense system to Belarus. Minsk has placed orders for S-400 [NATO designation SA-21 'Growler']. Since 2001, Moscow and Minsk have been discussing creation a joint missile defense system. However, as of 2008, there is no firm agreement on the issue. Belarus is not a member of the Missile Technology Control Regime, though it has been considered for membership in the past. Belarusian officials have repeatedly reiterated their commitment to nonproliferation of missile technologies.
This material is produced independently for NTI by the James Martin Center for
Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and
does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently
verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2010 by MIIS.
