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Monday, 10.09.2007
Atomic bomb guards celebrate their 60th anniversary at a church service
Moscow. The Defence Ministry’s 12th directorate, responsible for guarding Russia’s nuclear arsenal, has turned 60 years old. The Russian Orthodox Church bestowed its blessing on the WMD guards at a service.
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The ceremony celebrating the 60th anniversary of the top-secret military division took place in a hall in the basement of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in the heart of Moscow.
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The Orthodox Church did not just host the event, but also conducted a short service of thanks. This seemed to indicate that it does not see anything blasphemous in the development, existence and military availability of these WMD.
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Chief of Russian General Staff: Russia will always keep its nuclear arsenal.
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Chief of the Russian General Staff, Yury Baluyevsky, called atomic weapons the “most reliable and the strongest” weapons in the world, and ones that Russia intends to hold on to. He said Russia’s weapons were not intended to threaten anyone, “but these weapons guarantee and will continue to guarantee peace for our citizens, our children and our grandchildren.”
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The head of the 12th Directorate, General Colonel Vladimir Verkhovtzev, said that currently only the strategic rocket troops and the submarines were equipped with nuclear warheads. The land forces no longer have any tactical nuclear weapons at their disposal and the long-distance bombers that could carry atomic bombs do not. However, the strategic bombers could be fitted with nuclear weapons at any time, their commander Pavel Androssov recently said.
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“No unauthorised person has ever set foot in a nuclear weapon storage facility”.
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In an interview with government-owned paper ‘Rossiskaya Gazeta’, Verkhovtzev said that all secret testing ranges, research institutes and production capacities had been retained intact after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In the sixty year history of the Russian atomic forces, no unauthorised person had ever set foot in a nuclear facility.
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According to Verkhovtzev, Russia abstains from suitcase nuclear bombs, i.e.bombs those so small that people can carry them. He also said that Russia abstains from tactical atomic weapons such as 152mm shells or portable mines.
(ld/rufo/St.Petersburg)
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