Rare footage was shown Wednesday of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing accompanied by an official carrying a nuclear briefcase that could be used to order a nuclear attack.
Putin, after a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, was filmed walking into another meeting surrounded by security and followed by two uniformed Russian naval officers each carrying a briefcase.
The camera zooms in on one of the briefcases.
Russia’s nuclear briefcase is traditionally carried by a naval officer.
Known as “Cheget” (named after Mount Cheget in the Caucasus Mountains), the briefcase is with the president at all times but is rarely photographed.
“There is a certain suitcase without which Putin’s trip is incomplete,” the Kremlin correspondent of the state news agency RIA said in a post on Telegram under the footage.
In another clip, Putin exits a meeting in Beijing with navy officials again filmed just steps away from a smiling Putin as he descends a flight of stairs.
Two Russian naval officers. carrying what is believed to be a Russian nuclear briefcase, walked together during the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, China on Wednesday. Oct. 18 2023. via REUTERS The briefcase known as “Cheget” is rarely photographed but regularly travels with the Russian president, including on trips abroad such as this week to China. via REUTERS
The US president also has such a device – called a “nuclear football”.
The bag held the code the president would use to confirm the order to launch a nuclear missile if he were not in the White House.
The Ukraine war has raised tensions between Moscow and Washington to their highest level since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis just as China seeks to bolster its nuclear arsenal to match its status as an emerging superpower.
Russia’s parliament took the first step on Tuesday toward canceling its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and its top lawmaker warned the United States that Moscow may leave the pact altogether.
The nuclear briefcase for Russia’s first president Boris Yeltsin is on display at the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center in Yekaterinburg, Russia on Oct. 18. 2022.REUTERS The inside of Yeltsin’s briefcase displays a screen with several colored buttons, which should have been used if the former Russian president ordered a launch.REUTERS
Essentially, the briefcase was a secure communications device that linked the president to his top military officers and then to the rocket forces through a top-secret “Kazbek” electronic command and control network. Kazbek supports another system known as “Kavkaz”.
Russia’s defense minister, now Sergei Shoigu, also has a nuclear briefcase. The chief of the general staff, now Valery Gerasimov, may also have one.
Footage shown by Russia’s Zvezda television channel in 2019 shows what it says is one of the briefcases with multiple buttons.
In the section called “commands” there are two buttons: a white “launch” button and a red “cancel” button. The briefcase is activated by a special swipe card, according to Zvezda.
“Cheget” is similar to the US president’s “nuclear football” in that both have the ability to launch a nuclear attack from wherever the president is.REUTERS
One of the nuclear briefcases used by former Russian President Boris Yeltsin is on display at the Yeltsin Museum in Yekaterinburg.
Putin visited Beijing in his second known trip outside the former Soviet Union since the Ukraine war began in February 2022.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
