MINSK. April 8 (Interfax-AVN) - There are still 79 sites that can be utilized for launching strategic missiles of the Topol (RS-120) mobile missile system in Belarus, an official of the Belarussian Defense Ministry told Interfax-Military News Agency Friday.
"These sites are subject to destruction in compliance with international agreements, but we do not have funds and technical capabilities for that. For the time that has passed since the collapse of the USSR, only one of the 81 launch sites in Belarus was blown up, and one partially dismantled," the official said.
He added that such a site is a 15x20x1.5 m pad of concrete. "There is no any infrastructure at such launch sites. They are valuable only because of their precise geographical positioning," he said.
"As soon as the missile system deploys at a launch site, the operator does not need to prepare the positioning data to launch the missile. It saves time dramatically, as only four minutes are required to deploy the system and launch the missile in accordance with standing operating procedures. At the same time, the precise coordinates of the site fed to the computer ensure high accuracy of the missile," the official noted.
According to him, there were several strategic missile concentration points in Belarus, in the vicinity of Postav and Shchishchits. "The missiles there were intended to deliver nuclear strikes on targets in Western Europe in retaliation to the aggression against the Soviet Union. Their range was about 3,000 km," he said.
Under the Topol missile system standing operating procedures, the section travels around the republic in the vicinity of launch sites on a wheeled track carrying the missile. In case it receives an order to utilize the missile, its should reach the closest of the sites and launch the missile.
"It is quite difficult to destroy launch sites for the Topol missile systems, as they are made of good quality concrete. We do not have capabilities to take the dug-in groundwork out. Attempts to break the sites with explosives turned ineffective and ecologically dangerous," he said.
According to the Lisbon protocol that is an addition to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between the USSR and the U.S., Belarus has disposed of all nuclear weapons on its territory and become free of nuclear weapons.