Wagner Soldiers Reached Nuclear Base During Revolt? Here’s What Russian Officials, Expert Say – News18

When the Wagner forces rebelled against Kremlin last month, a contingent of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s military diverted east on a highway in the direction of a fortified Russian army base that holds nuclear weapons, a report has said.

According to a report in Reuters, the Wagner fighters reached up to 100 km from the Russian nuclear base, Voronezh-45, but the surveillance trail goes cold after that. It is not clear what happened next or if the Wagner Force reached nuclear stockpile.

Prigozhin led his Wagner force in a brief mutiny against Russia’s military command, in what most observers consider to have been the biggest threat to President Vladimir Putin’s authority in 20 years.

Prigozhin finally abandoned his advance on Moscow and accepted a deal brokered by Putin ally Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko under which he accepted exile there.

Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s head of military intelligence, claimed that the Wagner soldiers went further and they reached the nuclear base.

Budanov said their intention was to acquire small Soviet-era nuclear devices in order to “raise the stakes” in their mutiny.

“Because if you are prepared to fight until the last man standing, this is one of the facilities that significantly raises the stakes,” Budanov said.

He further said the only barrier between the Wagner fighters and nuclear weapons were the doors to the nuclear storage facility.

“The doors of the storage were closed and they didn’t get into the technical section,” he said.

However, he did not provide evidence for his claim and didn’t say why the fighters subsequently withdrew.

Russia has the world’s largest arsenal of nuclear weapons, with 4,477 deployed and reserve nuclear warheads, according to American Scientists.

A source close to the Kremlin said that the Wagner contingent “managed to get into a zone of special interest, as a result of which the Americans got agitated because nuclear munitions are stored there,” according to the report.

Another source said the rebel forces getting close to the nuclear weapons caused concern in the Kremlin and led to a hastily negotiation to the rebellion on the evening of June 24, which was mediated by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

However, according to the US, there is no clear evidence to support the claim.

“We are not able to corroborate this report. We had no indication at any point that nuclear weapons or materials were at risk,” White House National Security Council spokesman Adam Hodge said.

Meanwhile, experts said that it is almost impossible to breach Russian nuclear security. Matt Korda, a Senior Research Associate and Project Manager for the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, said it would be “virtually impossible for a non-state actor” to breach Russian nuclear security.

Although, Wagner may have had thousands of troops at its disposal, but it’s unlikely any of them knew how to detonate a bomb, he said.