A terrifying secret list of locations across the UK that the Russian navy would target with nuclear missiles in the event of a war with Nato has emerged.
The main targets of Putin’s forces inside the British Isles include a shipyard in Cumbria and an unknown site near Edinburgh, according to the leaked documents.
In total, 32 targets across Europe are named as potential targets for the Russian navy in the dossier, which predates the invasion of Ukraine. Financial time information.
Maps included in the files show targets beyond Western Europe and around the world, including Romania and Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran, China, North and South Korea, and Japan.
The unidentified target in Cumbria could be the Royal Navy’s submarine shipyard at Barrow-in-Furness, while a shipyard in Rosyth, outside the Scottish capital, where the Royal Navy aircraft carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales were built, could be the target there. The sun information.
A terrifying secret list of locations across the UK that the Russian Navy would target with nuclear missiles in the event of a war with Nato has emerged. Pictured: Russian soldiers load an Iskander-M short-range ballistic missile launcher as part of a Russian military exercise aimed at training troops in the use of tactical nuclear weapons
The secret files were compiled by Vladimir Putin’s Russian forces before the invasion of Ukraine.
Experts believe the unnamed target in Cumbria could be the Royal Navy’s submarine shipyard at Barrow-in-Furness. Pictured: BAE Systems, where many of the ships are built
An unknown location near Edinburgh is the second target, according to the leaked documents. Pictured: general view of the Scottish capital
Analysts believe the Rosyth Dockyard, used by the Royal Navy, could be the target just outside Edinburgh.
The dossier revealed that Moscow would be willing to use nuclear weapons in the early stages of a conflict against its adversaries. Pictured: Artist’s impression of a nuclear explosion
This shows that Moscow would be willing to use nuclear weapons in the early stages of a conflict against its adversaries.
Compiled between 2008 and 2014, the dossier of 29 documents shows that Russia has the capacity to transport nuclear weapons on surface ships, despite the risk of accidents that this could entail.
In 1991, the Soviet Union and the US signed an agreement to withdraw these ships.
The Navy, the document said, is prepared for ad hoc, or preemptive, strikes and “massive missile attacks… from multiple directions.”
Experts who reviewed the dossier said it was consistent with NATO analysts’ view of the threat posed by Putin’s regime, its ability to strike across Europe and the speed with which Russia would resort to using nuclear weapons.
The Kaliningrad-based Baltic Fleet would be in a prime position to launch weapons towards France and Germany, the file adds.
Former NATO official William Alberque, now at the Stimson Center in Washington DC, said that while maps drawn up for instructional rather than operational use show 32 targets, the sample was only a small portion of “hundreds, if not thousands, of targets mapped across Europe… including military and critical infrastructure targets.”
Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California, warned that Russia views nuclear weapons as “weapons to win wars.”
A warning to the West: Russian armed forces conducted exercises with a MiG-31 aircraft and missiles earlier this month
The missiles are capable of carrying nuclear or conventional warheads.
The exercises were intended to prepare the army and air force for the combat use of nuclear weapons.
A Russian nuclear-capable Iskander-M missile fired from a mobile launcher, undated
He said, “They’ll want to use them, and they’ll want to use them pretty quickly.”
Tactical nuclear weapons are less destructive than larger “strategic” weapons, which can hit long-range targets, but are nevertheless more powerful than bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945.
The list has been revealed as Russia openly attempts to intimidate the West.
Earlier this month, it was reported that Russian troops practiced installing mock warheads on launchers during recent nuclear weapons exercises intended to threaten the West over its support for Ukraine.
The footage showed a military unit armed with Iskander-M tactical-operational missile systems conducting the third stage of exercises ordered by Vladimir Putin.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the exercises would prepare the army and air force for the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons in combat.
This includes equipping launch vehicles with missiles “and covertly advancing to designated position areas in preparation for conducting electronic launches.”
In an earlier test, Putin’s forces carried out nuclear exercises using huge mobile Yars missile launchers, each carrying warheads with a force six times greater than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.
Launch of a Russian nuclear-capable Iskander-M missile, no date given
Naval forces have carried out similar exercises, practising how to “push the button” on a warship believed to be in the Baltic Sea.
The drills came as the United States announced new sanctions against the Kremlin, prompting Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev to declare that Moscow should inflict “maximum damage on the United States and its ‘damned allies’ as tensions rise between Russia and Ukraine’s foreign backers.
Russia’s ally Belarus has also been involved in tactical nuclear testing.
Putin supplied such weapons to Belarus.
Moscow said Putin ordered the tactical nuclear exercises to “calm hotheads in Western capitals.”
Conventional versions of this missile have been used in Ukraine.
Troops were also seen loading a missile onto a MiG-31 as part of the exercises.
Moscow said Putin ordered the tactical nuclear exercises to “calm tempers in Western capitals.”
This followed hints by French President Emmanuel Macron of sending European troops to fight in Ukraine earlier this year.
Former British foreign secretary Lord Cameron also said kyiv had the right to use weapons provided by London to attack targets inside Russia.
Both statements infuriated the hawkish Putin, who is struggling to make significant progress in his invasion of Ukraine.
The Iskander-M used in the latest exercises is a short-range ballistic missile system capable of carrying both conventional and non-strategic (or battlefield) nuclear warheads.
One of the most advanced tactical missile systems in Russia’s arsenal, it has a range of 250 to 310 miles and reaches speeds of up to Mach 6-7.