A historic leak of 2 million documents: Russia’s biggest secret revealed

This is historic—never before has there been a leak of such magnitude. On 28 May, the German newspaper Der Spiegel and the Danish investigative collective Danwatch revealed shocking documents, over two million in total, highlighting the incredible modernisation of the Kremlin chief’s secret nuclear facilities.

In their investigation, Der Spiegel and Danwatch set out the projects undertaken by Putin to modernise his nuclear deterrent. In addition to being modernised, it has been incredibly strengthened over the past fifteen years, reports L’Indépendant. And while the Russian president has repeatedly brandished the nuclear threat since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, this unprecedented leak proves that these were not empty words.

It was “thanks to various digital techniques” that the millions of documents could be retrieved. These reveal, among other things, the presence of the Yasny military complex, a highly strategic site among the 11 Russian bases capable of launching intercontinental ballistic missiles armed with nuclear warheads.

An unprecedented discovery

Nuclear weapons specialist Hans M. Kristensen said he was “absolutely stunned” in an interview with Der Spiegel: “This research is the most in-depth on the structure of these facilities that I have seen in the public domain.” He added: “Thanks to these documents, for the first time we can go inside the buildings and down to the basement. It’s completely new.”

And according to figures from the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), Russia, whose arsenal totals 5,449 nuclear warheads, remains the world’s leading nuclear power. 

(MH with Manon Pierre - Source: L’Indépendant - Illustration: ©Unsplash)