The Cheget, the nuclear briefcase that Putin brought to his meeting with the Chinese president and with which he can unleash World War III
The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, traveled to Beijing last week. There he met with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, within the framework of the Third Forum of the New Silk Roads, where there were delegates from 130 States.. This is Xi's star project, with which China seeks to seduce what it calls the Global South, with multi-million dollar investment projects.
Xi and Putin met at the People's Palace, on the sidelines of the forum. The news agencies that covered the meeting of the two leaders say that the “common threats” in the world “strengthen” their relations and praised the “growing mutual trust.” Regardless of what has been said, what has been seen.
After that meeting, the video cameras of the official Russian agency RIA Novosti that day captured the Russian president accompanied by two uniformed Russian naval officers carrying the nuclear briefcase, which would be used to order a nuclear attack.. Those officers are in charge of carrying it, each one with a briefcase.
“There are certain suitcases without which no Putin trip is complete,” the state news agency's Kremlin correspondents said in a Telegram post accompanying the images.. That suitcase, actually suitcases, is known as Cheget and takes its name from a mountain in the Russian region of Kabardino Balkaria.
A briefcase that is three
The nuclear button is not in a drawer in the Russian president's office in the Kremlin but travels with him. There are three briefcases (one original and two copies). In case he decided on an attack with nuclear warheads, Putin would have access to one briefcase (the original), the defense minister to another and the chief of staff to a third.
Technically, the Russian nuclear briefcase allows access to Kavkaz, a telecommunications system created for nuclear emergencies. Kavkaz connects with Kazbek, a system that communicates with the military officials in charge of carrying out the order. All codes, those of Kavkaz and those of Kazbek, are transmitted encrypted.
The fundamental Cheget is that of the president: if it is not connected, the attack order does not become real because the system does not work. From this it can be deduced that Putin, alone, can give the order to launch an attack with nuclear weapons, but the other two holders of a briefcase (the two copies) cannot do so.
Five steps to press the button
There are five steps that would have to be taken in the event that Moscow decided to press the fateful button, according to The Sun newspaper last year:
- First step: Putin makes up his mind. The decision has to be made by the Russian president. A 2020 executive order reveals circumstances under which Moscow could use nuclear weapons as a means of “deterrence”. These are detailed in six wide-ranging points ranging from “deployment of missile systems” to “military reinforcement.”
- Second step: Putin uses Cheget. Inside are two buttons (one white for “launch” and one red for “cancel”) and slots for a flash card that Putin will need to insert to begin the next stage of the attack.
- Third step: the General Staff. The order would be transmitted to the General Staff which, it is assumed, would follow Putin's orders. The nuclear attack would begin to be prepared.
- Fourth step: authorization codes. Launch codes are obtained, unlocked, and then sent to weapon commanders. Upon receipt, commanders would begin launch procedures by contacting submarine commanders, missile silo chiefs and air force leaders.
- Fifth step: the button. All you need to do is activate the white button. Only about 10 minutes would have passed.
The briefcase was activated once in 1995
The Cheget was developed in the early 1980s and was put into service just as Mikhail Gorbachev took office as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the USSR in March 1985.. We know that it was activated on January 25, 1995, in the presence of a Norwegian rocket that was misidentified (in reality it was a sounding rocket launched by Norwegian and American scientists).. It was supposedly the only time the Cheget was activated.
The briefcase gives Putin access to the Russian nuclear arsenal, which is officially made up of 1,588 deployed warheads. However, the figure would reach 6,000 taking into account the warheads stored, those not deployed and those that are going to be dismantled.. According to the UN, there are currently 13,080 nuclear weapons on the planet and 90% are from the United States and Russia.
Does Xi Jinping have a nuclear briefcase?
As far as is known, China has at least 350 nuclear warheads. Therefore, it is possible that Xi Jinping also had his briefcase nearby during his meeting with Putin.. O no. Much is assumed and little is known about China's nuclear weapons system.
Apparently the Chinese system is not so orthodox and depends more on the human factor, that is, a face to face based on the scale of power. The main authority resides in the president of the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Communist Party (CMC), a position that is usually held by the general secretary of the Communist Party and president of the Republic, as is the case with Xi.
In any case, China's nuclear doctrine is no first use (NFU).. It refers to its commitment not to use nuclear weapons as a means of war unless it receives a nuclear attack from another country.. For this reason, China's nuclear system does not prioritize rapid response as much as the survival of the response system.