Kremlin escalates global nuclear threat as Oreshnik enters serial production, intelligence says
Photo: Vladimir Putin, Russian president (Getty Images)
Russia is planning serial production and modernisation of the Oreshnik ballistic missile, further strengthening its nuclear potential.
This was stated by Head of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service Oleh Ivashchenko in a comment to Ukrinform.
"Russia intends to expand the serial production of the Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile and is considering options for its modernisation to enhance the strike capability of its nuclear warhead," Ivashchenko said.
The head of Ukraine’s foreign intelligence service stressed that the programme is receiving priority funding from Russia’s National Wealth Fund, underscoring the strategic importance of the Oreshnik missile for the country’s military-industrial complex.
According to Ivashchenko, more than 50 Russian enterprises are involved in the missile’s serial production, including leading research and manufacturing organisations such as the Scientific Research Institute of Command Instruments, the Central Research Institute of Shipbuilding Machinery, JSC Krasnodar Instrument-Making Plant Kaskad, JSC Kalugapribor, JSC Kaluga Electromechanical Plant, JSC Priboy, JSC Research Institute Soliton, and JSC Research Institute of Technical Systems Sinvent.
Ivashchenko noted that the Oreshnik missile is effectively a modernised version of the RS-24 Yars, whose development began in the early 2000s. The key difference lies in its design: Oreshnik has two stages instead of three, which improves efficiency and manoeuvrability during launch.
Ukrainian intelligence has urged the international community to closely monitor Russia’s growing capabilities, warning that the expansion of serial production and the modernisation of nuclear systems pose a direct threat to the security of Europe and the wider world.
Earlier, in October, Security Service of Ukraine head Vasyl Maliuk said that they, together with military intelligence, had destroyed one of Russia’s three Oreshnik missiles at the Kapustin Yar test site. He noted that the operation was classified and that only a few foreign presidents were aware of its outcome.
