New satellite imagery suggests Russia is carrying out extensive construction at several secret nuclear facilities, according to Business Insider. One such base is located in Asipovichy, Belarus, just 72 kilometres from Minsk.
Photographs taken in May and June by the American company Planet Labs and analysed by independent experts reveal new structures, roads, modifications, and significant expansions at the site, hinting at Moscow’s wider ambitions for its nuclear forces.
The construction work is centred on four sites in western Russia and neighbouring territories: Kaliningrad, Asipovichy in Belarus, Gadzhievo near the Norwegian and Finnish borders, and Novaya Zemlya in the Arctic. Another location is in Russia’s Far East.
Asipovichy
Roughly 10 kilometres east of the town of Asipovichy lies the 1,405th Ammunition Base. In 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko announced that Belarus would host Russian nuclear weapons.
By May 1, 2025, a new facility had appeared in the northern part of the base, complete with enhanced security features.
“One thing they've done is they've put a perimeter up that consists of three layers of fencing, and the middle layer is more enhanced,” Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, told Business Insider.
Satellite photos show how Russia is building up 5 of its secret nuclear bases https://t.co/482PYp0qde
— Business Insider (@BusinessInsider) July 14, 2025
Such a thermonuclear warhead storage facility would likely be used to house tactical nuclear weapons, smaller and more easily transportable than strategic ones. A single warhead is roughly the size of a small oven and weighs between 200 and 300 kilograms. These are usually transported by helicopter or military lorries, often by special units.
Kristensen also identified a covered unloading ramp next to a wooded area, probably connected to a bunker for storing the warheads. In the eastern section of the complex sits a large orange communications antenna, likely used for command and control.
These security measures are consistent with known features of Russian nuclear storage sites and are the kind of signatures analysts routinely look for in satellite imagery.
A comparison of imagery from April 2021 and May 2025 shows major roadworks leading to a newly built platform. Analysts believe this platform is part of a railway connection to Belarus’s main rail network northwest of the base, enabling the delivery of nuclear warheads by train rather than aircraft.
However, experts note that while the base is being built with nuclear storage in mind, it is unlikely that any warheads have been moved there yet.
“It's more likely that the weapons that are assigned to the site are stored in a national-level site,” said Pavel Podvig, a senior researcher for the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research speaking to Business Insider. He believes the warheads are probably still in Bryansk, Russia, approximately 300 kilometres from Asipovichy.
Within Asipovichy itself, a secondary site has likely been established, reinforcing the view among analysts that Russia is actively expanding its nuclear capabilities in the region. This location is believed to host a launch base for Iskander ballistic missiles.
Kaliningrad
Further west, near the borders of Lithuania and Poland, construction is also underway at a site in Kaliningrad. Photographs from as early as 2018 show multiple layers of fencing, typical of Russian nuclear facilities.
Just 5 kilometres to the southwest lies another base that has housed a nuclear repair and deployment unit since Soviet times, still operational today. Analysts have long suspected that tactical nuclear weapons are stored in this area.
In November 2022, renovation work began on the site’s main bunker, with additional fencing installed. Between June 2022 and June 2025, a grey building of unknown purpose was erected at the complex.
With its conventional land and air forces significantly depleted by the war in Ukraine, analysts speculate that Moscow may seek to compensate through mobilisation and an increased reliance on nuclear capabilities.
The United States, too, is modernising its nuclear triad, updating missiles and warheads capable of delivering nuclear payloads.
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