It's called the "12th GU MO.".Short for the 12th Chief Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, a "Nuclear Registrar" far more secretive than the FSB, GRU or SVR and more secret than the Strategic Nuclear Forces..According to reliable intelligence sources, the 12th GU MO is responsible for the safekeeping, technical maintenance, transportation, delivery, issuance, disposal, etc., of the Russian Federation's nuclear arsenal, as well as the testing and safety of nuclear charges for nuclear testing grounds at the two "Polygons" located at Semipovatinsk (Kazakhstan) and the Zemlya Archipelago..They are also responsible for the central and dedicated military bases where nuclear weapons are deployed in silos, on ships, submarines and mobile nuclear assets..Headquarters is located in the very exclusive Sokoliniki District of the eastern administrative Okrug of NE Moscow, underground in the Lodsiny Ostrov National Park..Director Lt. Gen. Igor Kolesnikojor and his deputy, Maj. Gen. A. V. Rotznov are in command of all nuclear assets..These facilities are likely under tight scrutiny from US military satellites and other US, UK and NATO intelligence sources..Any telegraphing of Russian intentions, such as the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, would be noticed, and, possibly spark a DEFCON alert.. America's nuclear "football."America's nuclear "football." .But the million-dollar question remains. Would Russian generals obey orders, to use nuclear weapons — so-called tactical nukes, or, the big Enchilada?.The latter would not be a good day, to put it mildly..Would President Vladimir Putin's chain of command, refuse to execute the orders?.We do know many Russian citizens are against the war, and that could easily spill over into the ranks of the Russian military..Said one intelligence source: "It would only take one brave one not to comply ... and if he lives, then there will be others.". Satellite image of (VLF) antennae array outside Moscow.Satellite image of (VLF) antennae array outside Moscow. .There is also some speculation Western intelligence agencies may in fact be trying to sway those in charge, the people who would have to carry out the orders..We only have to look at recent developments with China during the end of the Trump administration when the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, secretly contacted his counterpart in the PLA..Milley told a Senate Armed Services Committee, "My task at that time was to de-escalate.".According to several reports, Milley made two calls to Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army, in order to make it clear the U.S. had no intention of attacking China..The calls were revealed in a book by Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, Peril..Milley said he made the calls to assure Chinese officials there would not be attacks by the U.S. military after intelligence officials flagged concerns the Chinese believed such a strike was possible.. A Green Beret carries out a HALO jump with a 50-lb. tactical nuke between his legs.A Green Beret carries out a HALO jump with a 50-lb. tactical nuke between his legs. .Is the same thing happening now at the highest level, behind closed doors, between US and Russian military brass?.Andreas Kluth, a Bloomberg opinion columnist covering European politics, also raised these important issues in a recent column.."We can assume that many of these officers will have qualms. They may privately oppose Putin's war against Ukraine. They may not want to be complicit in mass murder. They may fear an uncontrolled escalation leading to Armageddon. Or they may simply be aware one option for President Joe Biden is to answer a Russian nuke with a conventional military strike that wipes out the base that fired the missile. Executing a launch order could well be suicidal.".During the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, US warships blockading Cuba were dropping depth charges on a Soviet submarine, trying to force it to the surface..What the US forces didn't know was that the sub was armed with nuclear torpedoes. Not only that, but the captain had assumed war had broken out..With the enemy fleet above and communications with Moscow dead, the Soviet submarine captain ordered his crew to prepare to launch a nuclear torpedo..He shouted to the effect, “We are going to die, but not before sinking all our enemies,” according to the book Gambling with Armageddon, by US historian Martin Sherwin..Without exaggeration, human history continues today thanks to deputy commander Vasily Arkhipov (1926-1998), who happened to be aboard that submarine. He opposed the torpedo launch and talked the captain into surfacing.. Vasili Arkhipov and wife Olga Arkhipova. The man who saved the world.Vasili Arkhipov and wife Olga Arkhipova. The man who saved the world. .Imagine, one man who possibly saved the world..For sure, there have been rumblings of disapproval, even at the highest levels..A recent US intelligence report claimed one Kremlin insider recently openly confronted the Russian leader over his war failures..The incident was deemed so unusual it was included in the US President's daily intelligence briefing on October 7..A Western intelligence official told the Washington Post they had witnessed "growing alarm from a number of Putin’s inner circle.".Meanwhile, media reports confirmed Russian forces are now using the TOS-1A weapon system in Ukraine. The TOS-1A uses thermobaric rockets, or vacuum bombs, creating incendiary and blast effects..A vacuum bomb, or thermobaric weapon, sucks in oxygen from the surrounding air to generate a high-temperature explosion, typically producing a blast wave of a significantly longer duration than that of a conventional explosive and is capable of literally vaporizing human bodies..Would it be that much of a stretch for Putin, who keeps threatening Europe with the use of tactical nukes, to actually follow through with his unhinged threat?.Putin is always accompanied by a military aide carrying a briefcase that contains the required communications equipment and authorization codes to launch Russia’s nuclear weapons arsenal within minutes..Known as the “cheget,” the contents of Russia’s “nuclear briefcase” are roughly analogous to those within the so-called nuclear “football” that always accompanies American presidents..President Jimmy Carter, who qualified as a nuclear submarine commander, was aware he would have only a few minutes to decide how to respond to a nuclear strike.. Photo interpreter Dino Brugioni identified nuclear missiles, tents, and launcher equipment in this aerial photo taken October 14, 1962.Photo interpreter Dino Brugioni identified nuclear missiles, tents, and launcher equipment in this aerial photo taken October 14, 1962. .He ordered the war plans be drastically simplified..A former military aide to President Bill Clinton, Col. Buzz Patterson, would later describe the resulting pared-down set of choices as akin to a “Denny’s breakfast menu.”.“It’s like picking one out of Column A and two out of Column B,” he said..However, the chain of command in Russia, actually works the other way. It's the Russian military that must come to Putin, to warn him of an imminent threat..Based on that, just how worried should we be?.Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton thinks Putin isn’t seriously ready to use nuclear weapons yet, but the four annexations in Eastern Ukraine bring him “closer to that point than at any earlier time.”.And last week Biden said the world was closer to “Armageddon” than at any time since the Cuban missile crisis, 60 years ago this month..Getting back to the "12th GU MO.".At Russia's Strategic Nuclear Forces command and control post at the main underground headquarters in Kuntsevo, a closed town in the SE suburbs of Moscow, sits a very-low frequency (VLF) antennae array that communicates directly with Russia's nuclear triad..The troop level and purpose at this facility is classified, but the bulk of the soldiers are special troops of the Supreme Command Reserve..These are embedded with the Strategic Nuclear Forces at short-range, in-theatre and tactical nuclear units, ICBM missile batteries, naval and aviation units that have nuclear weapons, military saboteurs and engineers with portable nuclear munitions, anti-aircraft and anti-ICBM missile defences that use nuclear-tipped missiles..Weapons that would be used in Ukraine if Putin gives the green light..It is often said if nuclear war were to break out, the hotdog stand in the centre of the Pentagon gardens would be ground zero for the first nuke..It is without question, similarly, the 12th GU MO's antenna array would suffer the same fate. It simply has to go..President John F. Kennedy once said, "The only good thing about nuclear deterrence is the deterring.".Let's hope there are some like minds in the Kremlin.. JFKJFK
