Russia is continuing to develop its nuclear war skills, and it would be doing it also thanks to the use of materials provided by European companies. The plans were revealed by Danwatch and Die Spiegel also thanks to a data escape. The two newspapers, a Danish and one German, discovered over 2 million related documents in a public procurement database, which would show that Russia has heavily invested in the modernization of nuclear structures in the Orenburg Oblast using western products.
The Russian authorities gradually limited access to the database, but the newspapers claim to have managed to evade the restrictions using a variety of digital techniques, including a server network located in Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus.
The documents reveal how numerous new structures have been built throughout Russia: entire bases have been almost razed to the ground and rebuilt by the foundations; Hundreds of new barracks, guard towers, control centers and storage buildings were built; Several kilometers of underground tunnels were dug.
The avangard
Among the millions of documents, Danwatch has found hundreds of original cyanographies of the bases of the strategic missile forces near the town of Yasny, which since 2019 have been equipped with the IPERSONICO AVANGard Planata vehicle, one of the new nuclear launch systems of Russia which plays a central role in the ambitions of President Vladimir Putin to put Russia in the first line in the West race against the West. According to Danwatch, Russia uses a total of 11 structures for storage of nuclear weapons.
The report focuses on the magnifying glass on the basis of the 621st missile regiment, which according to what reported would store nuclear heads in underground silos, and the base of the 368th regiment located 17 kilometers away – a deliberate distance to prevent both from being destroyed by a single nuclear attack.
Since 2009, both sites would have been subjected to significant updates, including the construction of new protection structures, roads and systems. Satellite images also indicate that underground construction works are underway on the 368th regiment site.
The journalists of the two newspapers noticed from the images the installation of advanced sensors and improved protective materials around the Avangard bunkers. The Avangard is considered one of Russia’s most advanced nuclear platforms, capable of reaching hypersonic speeds.
The role of European companies
And despite the western sanctions, Russian contractors would have used imported construction materials, including concrete, adhesives, insulating and plaster of the German manufacturer Knauf, as a tender of 2022 will also be concrete, adhesives and plastering. In response to requests for information from the newspaper, a representative of the company has declared that the Russian branches of the company sell “almost exclusively to independent retailers” that Knaau cannot control those who use its products.
“It is an unprecedented fact, absolutely incredible,” said Hans Kristensen, a Danish expert in nuclear weapons, adding that the documents provide a rare vision of the priorities of Russia in nuclear modernization and long -term strategic planning.
The investigation also states that the bases are protected externally from complex monitoring systems with modern air defense equipment. Along the external perimeter three levels of electrical fences, seismic sensors and radioactivity are installed. Then there are reinforced concrete walls, explosion -proof doors and windows, alarm systems with magnetic contacts and infrared sensors. A former British military intelligence officer defined the escape of these documents as a “serious failure of procedures” in Russia.
