Russian deserter reveals war secrets of guarding nuclear base
A combat alert was in place on the day Russia invaded Ukraine, he tells the BBC.
Well damn, so much for the unmaintained nukes theory
Not convinced by this story. The guy allegedly worked in security on the base, so probably does not know anything about maintenance needed to keep the warheads operational. I also doubt western security services would let this guy speak to the BBC.
You think there's a guy?
The guy allegedly worked in security on the base,
Nothing to keep security over if the nukes aren't functional/maintained.
I find this theory so absurd, i am quite sure it comes out of some psyops organization. The main thing that resembled some of Russias former glory as SU was their nuclear arsenal. And believing they would let all of it go unmaintained to the point that no relevant amount of nukes would remain working is just nonsensical. Hanging on to that arsenal must have been one of Russias top strategic priorities.
It's really not, brain drain, collapse of the ussr, cost to maintain, etc. all of this is why many in the west believe that the stockpile is in ruin. The kursk sunk because they didnt maintain basic torpedoes, what makes you think they have the knowledge/money to do that with nukes. Russia has clearly shown it's a paper tiger.
Even if the nukes are unusable and Russia is bluffing... I'd not be too keen to call the bluff. You just have to assume they are not.
Is it?
The oligarchs has stripped the military of everything they could, replacing armor with paper crap and the such.
Now take nukes, which are notoriously finicky and require a boatload of maintenance to remain explodable, if that is a word... If ever used, it's the end of the world, and it won't matter anymore.
So here you got weaponry you can quite easily siphon millions out of and basically no one will find out, or no one will be left to care.
Do you really think they did their best on those?
Russia has thousands of nukes in its arsenal, and this is one person in one base.
Even the US doesn't have all its nukes well maintained, which is why they've been overhauling them for years.
Personally I never subscribed to the "Russia has 0 nukes ready to go" theory because that's just downright idiotic. Bare minimum you keep one well maintained so at the very least you can target whoever targeted you and try to hit their capital with a MIRV.
Since no country really has a problem with taking what it wants from the people, it stands to reason that Russia would just squeeze its population a little tighter to keep as many nukes operational as possible.
However, with that said I also don't doubt a large percentage of it's nuclear arsenal is basically useless.
And anyone who knows anything about nukes can tell you it doesn't matter if they have 10 or 1000, they could still kick off the nuclear apocalypse
I get they blurred his face, but I don't see what that second image really offers anyone other than a way for Russia to narrow down the search of the leak. If I was that guy I'd be pissed at any picture being leaked
Pretty sure there have not been many deserters holding such niche position. His identity already should be known.
His story is pretty unique and he's already on their hunted list. The pic makes absolutely no difference
"Go leak this info to some western press, comrade" - Putin
Good thing is that we are gonna find out the truth in a year or so if this dude is still alive
Rubbish. The security people wouldn't have clearance to know much about what they are guarding, let alone the rest of the countries capabilities. He would know they were put on alert. That's about it. His statement about maintaining it every minute reeks of trying to make his information more valuable so he is better taken care of by whoever he escaped to. Noone would build a weapon that requires that much maintenance. And if they were doing that much maintenance they might be spit polishing the exterior for all he would know. I call BS
It's a nice, even heartwarming story. It does feel a bit like that tv presenter protesting at the beginning, though.
