Another Top-Secret Facility Appears Near Bangalore Square in Minsk
Last year, a project was put up for public discussion, according to which a Russian Center for Science and Culture was to be built in the Park of Friendship of Peoples. But no one noticed how, nearby, on 12 hectares, a secret complex with a shooting range appeared, for which the discussion was conceived as a cover.
The territory within the streets of Maksim Bahdanovich, Arlouskaya, Liliya Karastayanava, and Nekrasava historically served as the center of Belarusian agronomic science. In 1911, the Minsk Governorate Zemstvo founded the Minsk Marsh Experimental Station here. The institution was located on the Komarovka Marsh massif, covering over 200 hectares, and became the first base in the Russian Empire for studying and reclaiming marshes. In 1930, based on it, the Belarusian Research Institute for Land Reclamation and Water Management was established. Part of the drained experimental fields was transformed into the Park of Friendship of Peoples in 1978. Its territory included the corner of Nekrasava and Bahdanovich streets, which for decades functioned as the institute's scientific and production base — greenhouses, nurseries, and experimental plots were located there. In 2021-2022, these structures were completely demolished.
In March 2025, the administration of the Savetski District of Minsk put up for public discussion a detailed planning project (DPP) for the vacated territory. Urban planners proposed laying new streets, dividing the territory into blocks of multifunctional public development (O1 on the plan). This usually refers to administrative buildings, business centers, shopping and entertainment complexes, cultural and educational institutions, and public catering facilities.
During the discussion, city residents submitted a demand to the commission to preserve the green zone on the site of the former greenhouses of the Institute for Land Reclamation and annex it to the territory of the Park of Friendship of Peoples, and spoke out against the construction of the Russian Center for Science and Culture on a site densely covered with mature trees.
The commission rejected the comments, arguing that the allocation of the 17th block for the construction of the Russian center was due to the intersection near Bangalore Square, especially after the introduction of a new metro station, being a critical area of increased importance.
The detailed planning project was approved, but never actually finalized. Already in May 2025, the territory of the unimplemented blocks from 25th to 29th (the entire vacated territory, except for that allocated for the Russian center), covering 12.38 hectares, was designated in the cadastre as a separate plot "for the placement of objects for other purposes" at Nekrasava, 51C. Today, four buildings of the secret complex have already been erected within this closed territory.
As an analysis of tender documentation and design drawings revealed, the new facility is designated with project code 10.23. The last digit in the code indicates the year the design contract was concluded — 2023. It also shows that the State Construction Expertise for Minsk issued a positive conclusion № 780-15/24 for the already designed facility on November 27, 2024.
This means that the design process began long before the public discussion, which was knowingly false and served solely to divert public attention.
How the Secret Construction is Hidden
The construction of the complex has been entrusted to Budtrest № 4 and its branches — construction departments № 13 and № 10, as well as mechanization department № 208. To avoid undue attention, procedures for supplying materials for the construction were listed on the state procurement portal under the nondescript phrasing "Construction Object in Minsk" — such an object cannot be found using the built-in search, as it uses words that are part of the description of any object under construction in the capital.
Only in separate documents does a clarification appear — "Bahdanovich str., 153A". This address does not correspond to the plot's address, but belongs to a small building that was demolished on its territory. According to the tender documentation, the financing for the secret construction is carried out using funds from the local budget of Minsk, as well as the client's own funds.
Adding to the confusion is the fact that, despite the facility being located in the Savetski District of Minsk, the official client for the construction is listed as the Capital Construction Department of the Zavodski District of Minsk. However, this is not the first time this structure has appeared on important construction projects outside its nominal jurisdiction.
Secrecy measures were also imposed on subcontractors. Contracts stipulate a categorical prohibition of access to the construction site for any persons who are not employees of the contractor. Separately, there is a ban on conducting photo and video shooting, demonstrating building elements to third parties, and transmitting plans, drawings, or any information about the functional purpose of the premises.
All decisions were coordinated with the chief project architect Fyodar Haroshka. However, his place of work was not specified, nor can it be determined from open databases. On rare scans of project drawings, the stamps indicating project developers were, for reasons of secrecy, covered with white paper.
However, we found several instances where this was done carelessly, and by comparing the names with open sources, we discovered that the general designer was the "Voyensproyekt" institute, which is subordinate to the Ministry of Defense of Belarus.
Main Building
The main building of the complex is referred to as "object M" in the estimates, but as "MFC building" in the tender documentation, which can be deciphered as a multifunctional building.
It has a complex symmetrical configuration, resembling the letter Ж (Zh) in plan. The central entrance on the main facade is accentuated by a ceremonial portico, where a massive steel canopy with a skylight rests on side pylons. This facade is flanked by symmetrical side wings, which are lower than the main volume. On the rear side of the building, conversely, three equally sized wings protrude, united by a common roof level with the central part. The building has a full basement floor (at elevation -3.300), three regular above-ground floors, and a fourth technical floor.
In total, the basement floor houses at least 66 separate rooms. The project requires 30 of them to be equipped with doors featuring devices for sealing with mastic seals and shelves for security alarm sensors.
A shooting range is located there, its floor and walls covered with special "Rezupol" plates. These are designed to absorb ricochets from 9x19 millimeter "Parabellum" combat pistol cartridges. On the same floor is a room whose walls are reinforced along the perimeter with a mesh made of massive 8-millimeter thick rebar. Such measures are taken exclusively for special vaults or rooms for storing firearms.
It can be precisely determined that the left wing on the main facade is occupied by a sports hall measuring 30.5 by 15 meters, with a total area of over 450 square meters. To accommodate the sports hall's non-standard height, its floor was lowered to an elevation of -1.500. The hall is directly connected to the first floor of the main volume, where changing rooms and showers are located, and also has a mezzanine with access to the second floor.
It should be noted that the documentation mentions two sports halls — rooms 1142 and 1143. However, in another specification, room 1142 is described as a swimming pool. It is possible that a steam room, also featured in the finishing lists, adjoins it.
The representative part of the building is finished with expensive materials. The first-floor lobby is connected to the second-floor lobby by a grand staircase. After a small introductory flight, it branches out to the sides, much like in the National Art Museum. However, instead of balustrades, glass railings made of light-green frosted glass are installed here. The grand staircases and lobbies are paved with natural granite and marble slabs. Grilyato grid suspended ceiling systems are installed on the ceilings. In the executive offices, parquet flooring is laid, while in the employees' working rooms, commercial carpet (carpet tile) is used.
On the third floor, in the central courtyard wing, a large amphitheater-style assembly hall, approximately 330 square meters in area, will be located. A separate conference hall is also provided in the building.
The facades of the building, judging by fragments of the plan, will be designed as ventilated systems with volumetric metal panels in the form of teeth and gutter-like elements.
Checkpoint
Access to the complex territory will be through a separate permanent building — a checkpoint (referred to as "Object K" in the documentation). A small building with a total area of about 170 square meters has been erected from the side of Bahdanovich Street, with a significant setback from the street's red line. This is the only object of the complex whose layout is known. The set of rooms here is standard: a room for citizen inspection, rooms for the checkpoint duty officer and visitor reception; also, staff rest and dining rooms, an equipment room, and an electrical switch room are provided inside.
Comparing satellite images from different times, it can be seen that north of the checkpoint, foundations for some structure were poured in a trench, which is now covered with earth. The latest images also show the fence already erected around the perimeter of the complex.
Objects P and HN
The most difficult to identify are two industrial-looking buildings located behind the main multifunctional building. Their letter designations — "Object P" and "Object HN" — do not lend themselves to unambiguous deciphering without knowing their exact functional purpose, and the available documentation contains minimal information about them.
Most likely, "Object HN" is the building that stretches along the rear facade of the main complex. The documentation lists opening dimensions of 4200×4500 mm and 4200×3200 mm, which correspond to industrial sectional gates. The larger ones are capable of accommodating heavy-duty cargo transport and semi-trucks, while the smaller ones can accommodate medium-duty vans and passenger cars. Satellite images show a row of at least 13 such gates on one of the facades of this building.
The building's estimates also mention an administrative and utility block and a vehicle maintenance station (VMS). The presence of a car wash inside is confirmed by a separate requirement to equip it with moisture-resistant gates.
By elimination, the furthest building can be considered "Object P" (designated by the abbreviation "PP" in some tenders). No additional information about it could be extracted from the design documentation. The only visual distinction is the presence on the elongated courtyard side of a comb-like structure with elements dividing the space into open, narrow cells measuring approximately 2x8 meters. These cells are oriented towards an asphalted area.
Nearby is a platform made of three massive concrete slabs, each approximately 15x15 meters, with an asphalted bypass road around them. Such reinforced bases are typically used either for open storage of heavy loads or for housing military and other special equipment for which asphalt paving is unsuitable.
Construction Boom for Security Agencies
The construction of a large-scale security complex is not an isolated incident but part of a broad campaign to expand the infrastructure of security agencies in Minsk. In recent years, a number of large construction projects for the needs of the security bloc have been recorded in the capital, all united by secrecy and a complete disregard for norms and legislation.
An identical approach was used during the construction of the new building for the KGB Academy of National Security on Zalataya Horka. The multi-story building was erected directly on the territory of a historical Catholic cemetery. For the sake of this facility, the authorities ignored the protection zone project approved by the Ministry of Culture and the law on funeral affairs.
Another secret skyscraper appeared on Mayakovskogo Street directly in front of the historical building of Eustachy Lubanski's yeast and distillery plant, built in 1903. The new five-story complex completely obscured the architectural monument and nullified its protection zones. An analysis of the design documentation showed that a facility for security forces is also being built there, inside which a 50-meter shooting gallery, interrogation rooms, a room with a polygraph, and a separate single-story annex for document destruction are planned.
Parallel to this, in the industrial zone of Stsyapyanka, the construction of a new complex for the Center for Isolation of Offenders is underway. On Karvata Street, under the guise of renovating an old barracks, a new detention center has been created with an estimated capacity of up to 230 people and harsher detention conditions.
All mentioned facilities are being built at the expense of state and local budgets, and their funding amounts to tens of millions of rubles.
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