A data leak has revealed the location and blueprints of a raft of Russian nuclear installations across the country. The leak was obtained and published by German and Danish newspapers Der Spiegel and DanWatch.
The newspapers claim to be in possession of hundreds of detailed blueprints of Russian nuclear bases and to have analysed over 2 million documents in total. They claim the documents “make it possible for the first time to penetrate some of Vladimir Putin’s best-protected secrets”.
The data pinpoints sites in Central Russia that were barely visible on satellite imagery just a few years ago, and that now show large armoured underground facilities.
According to Hans M. Kristensen, Director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, while satellite surveillance has always been pursued, the documents make it possible to know what is going on inside the sites “all the way underground.”
The digital and physical security systems in place at the sites are also documented. “It’s completely unprecedented,” said Kristensen.
The leak is so detailed it even provides complete information about the routines of personnel: what the soldiers eat, where they sleep, when and where they are on duty, and what kind of exercise and games they play and when they do them.
“This is information Russia would obviously want to keep hidden,” said Norwegian geopolitics and intelligence expert Tom Roseth. “It makes their bases potentially more vulnerable.”
It is not clear what the implications will be for the ongoing war. Currently, Putin appears to be amplifying military action so as to negotiate from the most favourable position if a peace deal is to eventuate.
Last week saw the largest Russian aerial bombardment on Ukraine since the war began, according to retired Australian general Mick Ryan. Now that the northern summer has arrived, there are Russian offensives underway across multiple points of the front in southeastern and northeastern Ukraine.
Feature image available via DanWatch: source.
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