In uniform

The old man and the bomb

November 12, 2020 Alexander Golts

What is the comfort of the chief Russian boss, when his next “jamb” becomes obvious to everyone? He collects generals to once again tell him about the indestructible Russian nuclear power. The day after the signing of the Karabakh agreement, which recorded the military defeat of Armenia, the Russian ally, and opened the gate to the dominance of Turkey in the South Caucasus, Vladimir Putin began the 15th series of meetings with the heads of the Ministry of Defense and the OPC.

Someone might think that the focus of attention (at least during the first two days) was the question of why Russia did not have and there were no shock drones who were so successfully applied by Turkey in Syria, Libya and Karabakh. But no, such a nonsense is not bothering the Supreme Commander -in -Chief. It is much more pleasant to discuss the development and state of nuclear forces. After all, it is not possible to verify the veracity of the victorious generals in this area in practice. Therefore, the president can with complete confidence, not afraid of foreign spitefuls, to declare that “despite the changing nature of military threats, it is the nuclear triad that remains the most important, key guarantee of Russia's military security. And if you look wider, then global stability. The preservation of such a balance of forces nullifies the threat of a large -scale military conflict, in fact, makes any attempts to blackmail or pressure against our country meaningless. ”

Then Vladimir Putin began, as usual, to describe the threats that come from overseas arsonists. All this, together with the stories about unprecedented weapons, thanks to which Russia overtook all countries of the world, without participating, according to the president, in the arms race, has long been a common place. However, it is alarming and even frightening that, discussing nuclear weapons, the head of the great power demonstrates strange negligence or, even worse, some distraction.

So he rightly states that “today in the American nuclear doctrine, the possibility of using nuclear weapons in response to the use of non -nuclear means is recorded. At the same time, the conditions for the use of nuclear weapons are not specified at all. ” And in order to point out the peace of Russia, he emphasizes: “In fact, we are talking about: we are talking about: we say that we can apply the nuclear means we have, but in response to a nuclear attack on our country. Here is the essence of what is written in these fundamental documents. ”

At the same time, Putin refers to the decree “On the Fundamentals of the State Policy of the Russian Federation in the field of nuclear deterrence”, which personally signed less than six months ago. But the document includes another, the exact opposite. There, a broken word says that "the Russian Federation reserves the right to use nuclear weapons ... in the case of aggression against the Russian Federation with the use of ordinary weapons, when the existence of the state is threatened." At the same time, the decree is not going to clarify what it is he who intends to interpret as a “threat to the existence of the state”.

The high -ranking employees of the General Staff who published in the “Red Star” comments on this document are finished by the “exhaustive” formulation: “The conditions on the use of nuclear and other types of weapons of mass destruction, the impact on critically important objects of Russia, about the aggression with the use of conventional means of lesion should not cause issues from the original source - A. G.). Moreover, in the decree itself, the principles of nuclear deterrence directly include “uncertainty for a potential enemy scale, time and place of possible use of forces and means of nuclear deterrence”.

Thus, Putin reproaches the Americans exactly that Russia officially allows itself in doctrinal documents. The worst thing is that the Supreme Commander, it seems, simply does not remember what is written in these documents. Despite the fact that every word - what is the word, each comma - in such documents has a special fateful meaning. There, in principle, there cannot be passages with a double interpretation. And the statements of the top management must fully comply with these documents. Now, after Putin’s statements, the Western “counter -partners” can only be guessed, Moscow intends under certain (unknown circumstances) to use nuclear weapons the first or not.

The question, I note, is not at all theoretical. The times have long passed when it was generally accepted to consider nuclear weapons purely political - a weapon that would never be used.

The second day of Putin's meetings with the military and defensemen was dedicated to the control systems of nuclear forces. First of all, the Commander -in -Chief suggested "seriously to work on increasing the vitality of control systems ... on the vitality of these systems, their ability to maintain the working condition in combat conditions, a lot depends, and this must be ensured even in case of a nuclear strike."

Remember how, three years ago, Putin promised that as a result of the exchange of nuclear strikes, the Russians will go to heaven, and the enemies have to burn in hell? Now we are talking about Apocalypse management systems. Here the current owner of the Kremlin follows the course of his Soviet predecessors. In the USSR, the “perimeter” system was created (the Americans call it “dead hand”). It was supposed to ensure the launch of Soviet missiles, even if command posts would be destroyed by the first American blow.

Now, the chief chief joyfully said, “at the final stage there is the creation of a new, almost absolute protection of the control point, including strategic nuclear forces. His safety margin will be extremely high. ” Thus, Putin can only be glad. And he, being a subordinate population at this very point of management, will definitely protect. And then he will hold a meeting with the generals. Well, which will remain ...

Photo: Russia. Sochi. Russian President Vladimir Putin (in the center) in the Bocharov Ruche residence during a meeting with the leading composition of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, heads of federal departments and enterprises of the defense industry. Alexey Nikolsky/Press Service of the President of the Russian Federation/TASS