Belarus warns of 'one minute to doomsday' as Russia relocates missiles to its territory

Belarusian officials told the United Nations this week that the world is at a heightened risk of nuclear catastrophe, describing the Doomsday Clock as approaching midnight and characterizing the current moment as nearly as dangerous as ever. Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov said Minsk is facing renewed Western militarization and warned that the world is now at a time he described as “one minute to doomsday” as Russia transports nuclear warheads to Belarus. He cited a clock that places the global threat at its closest point to midnight since the symbol began tracking such threats, and he noted that the weapons in question could strike London within about eight minutes of launch.

Belarus is consolidating security ties with Russia as Moscow moves to station more nuclear-capable systems on Belarusian soil. President Alexander Lukashenko has publicly said that the feared Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missiles are on the way to Belarus, a move that would significantly shorten the time needed to reach Western targets if a conflict were to escalate. A base near Pavlovka, south of Minsk, is reportedly under construction to house the warheads, a development that has drawn sharp attention from NATO members and Western governments.

In remarks that underscored the urgency of the moment, Ryzhenkov warned that the West has begun rearming and that such steps, coupled with border deployments, threaten Belarus’s security. He cited the agreement reached last year between Minsk and Moscow on security guarantees that he said permits the use of any weapon, including nuclear arms, for defense. He asserted that Belarus has “monstrous destructive power” at its disposal through Russian missiles stationed on its territory and emphasized that the purpose of deploying these weapons is deterrence against perceived Western threats.

The broader geopolitical backdrop includes ongoing high-tension dynamics between Russia and the West. NATO member states have pledged to boost defense spending, with the United Kingdom announcing a plan to raise spending to five percent of GDP by 2035 in response to what officials describe as a growing threat from Russia and its allies. In his UN remarks, Ryzhenkov linked the tightening of Western militarization to the perceived risk to Belarus, arguing that the situation compels Minsk to rely on Russian deployments to guarantee security.

Separately, NATO showcased its collective military capabilities in the North Sea as part of Neptune Strike 25-3, a multinational exercise that involved dozens of ships and aircraft from 13 nations. The exercise, intended to test interoperability and deterrence, featured F-35 and F-18 jets and a carrier strike group alongside destroyers and frigates from allied navies. U.S. officials framed the exercise as a demonstration of allied resolve in the face of heightened tensions with Moscow. In the Baltic and surrounding waters, a Russian reconnaissance aircraft conducted multiple passes near a German frigate, a move that German defense authorities described as unprofessional and uncooperative. The episode occurred on the eve of joint naval operations that have been described by Western officials as a test of the alliance’s deterrent posture.

The security situation remains fluid. Belarus already hosts Iskander-M short-range ballistic missiles on its territory, and Moscow has positioned forces near the Polish border in Kaliningrad and elsewhere along the region. Belarus’s geographic position—bordering Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine and Russia—gives it strategic proximity to several NATO members and raises the potential consequences of any miscalculation or accidental escalation. Analysts caution that while Belarus and Russia describe their moves as defensive, the deployment of nuclear-capable missiles to a neighbor of NATO raises the possibility of rapid escalation should crises arise on the European continent.

Observers note that this tense period follows a series of public escalations, including rhetoric about nuclear weapons and warnings about Western rearmament. At the same time, Moscow has claimed that its strategic weapons are intended to deter aggression from Western states, a stance repeatedly echoed by Belarusian officials. The international community continues to monitor whether diplomatic channels can prevent further degradation of trust and what steps, if any, might be taken to stabilize the region without triggering a new cycle of retaliatory measures that could bring the world closer to a nuclear confrontation.

The overarching message from Belarus and its Russian allies is a warning about the perceived inadequacy of Western deterrence and the perceived need for greater security guarantees. Western governments, for their part, emphasize the importance of sustaining allied unity, advancing defense modernization, and maintaining channels for crisis management and de-escalation. As the Doomsday Clock remains a symbol of global risk, observers stress that the clock’s time is a reminder of the potential consequences of miscalculation in a fragile, highly weaponized security environment.