Kremlin Spokesperson Denies Planting Nuclear Bombs along U.S. Coastlines

Victor Baranetz, the former spokesperson for the Russian Defense Ministry, warned in an explosive editorial last month that Russia planted underground nuclear bombs alongside U.S. coastlines. According to Baranetz, Russia acted in retaliation for the strong military presence from NATO countries.

“The Americans are deploying their tanks, airplanes and special forces battalions along the Russian border. And we are quietly ‘seeding’ the U.S. shoreline with nuclear ‘mole’ missiles (they dig themselves in and ‘sleep’ until they are given the command),” Baranetz wrote, according to a translation published in March by the Middle East Media Research Institute, a research organization co-founded by a former Israeli intelligence officer and an Israeli-American political scientist.

The covert nuclear plan, which some U.K. media described as causing a deadly tsunami, would allegedly be Russia’s response to the U.S.’ global military dominance.”

In terms of defense spending, Baranetz argued that Russia could not compete with the U.S., which was “the permanent ‘world champion’ in the size of its military budget.” He cited the U.S.’s $600 billion budget as being 10 times that of Russia’s and more than the next top 10 nations combined.

Baranetz’s numbers do not quite add up, however, and his unlikely nuclear weapons plan was chalked up to psychological warfare by James Nixey, head of the Russia and Eurasia program at Chatham House, a U.K.-based international think tank.

“Russia ebbs and flows its nuclear rhetoric on a frequent basis—through its media, spokespersons and even president—there are ‘constant reminders’ that they are a nuclear power,” Nixley told The Independent in an article published Tuesday.

People frequently underestimate Russia’s nuclear program. The Federalization of American Scientists calculates that Russia possesses more active strategic nuclear warheads than the U.S. Russia possesses approximately 1790 active strategic nuclear warheads. This is contrasted with the U.S. possessing only 1,750. Although, the U.S. is the leader when it comes to overall nuclear warheads possessing 4,500 to Russia’s 4,490.

Source: Newsweek and Smithsonian Magazine 

Image: Former Russian Spokesman Victor Baranetz, Current Spokesman Dmitry Peskov