BBC. The station's conversation with a Russian defector about the nuclear base

The British station conducted its interview with the Russian deserter outside Russia. She introduces him as Anton, but states that for his safety the name has been changed. It doesn't show his face either. The former officer was to show journalists documents confirming where he served and what his military rank was. As the public broadcaster writes, although it is not able to verify all the events described by Anton, they coincide with the statements made by the Russian side from that time.

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On February 24, 2022 in the morning, the Russian army attacked Ukraine. On the day the full-scale invasion began, the nuclear weapons base where Anton served was put on full combat readiness. – Previously we only had exercises, but on the day the war started the weapons were fully in place – the former officer tells the BBC. – We were ready to use forces at sea and in the air, and in theory to launch a nuclear attack – he claims.

According to the former officer, the base was on combat readiness and his unit was closed there. – All we had was Russian state television, (…) I didn't really know what it all meant. I performed my duties automatically, says the BBC. – We didn't fight a war, we just guarded nuclear weapons.

The man also talked about the details of his service at the base. There are no conscripts there, only selected professional soldiers can serve there, and life on the base is strictly controlled. His task was, for example, to ensure that soldiers did not bring any phones to the base. – There are constant checks and lie detector tests. The pay is much higher and soldiers are not sent to war. They are there to repel or launch a nuclear attack, he tells the BBC.

A week ago Vladimir Putin signed the decreeexpanding the list of “military threats” that could constitute grounds for the use of nuclear weapons. Previously, such a basis was only a threat to the very existence of the state. Now Russia “sees nuclear weapons as a deterrent” that can be used in “extreme and forced” cases. The updated doctrine, which defines the threats that may cause the Russian authorities to consider a nuclear attack, indicates that an attack using conventional missiles or drones may be considered as meeting these criteria.

The decision to change Russia's official nuclear doctrine was made shortly after the information about the case the possibility of using American long-range weapons supplied to Ukraine to strike deep into Russia.

As the BBC writes, Russia has about 4,380 nuclear warheads, 1,700 of them deployed or ready for use. Last week, Oreshnik – a new hypersonic ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads – fell on the Dnieper.

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