It has been disclosed that these weapons were indeed intended for Spetsnaz. Two versions of these devices were created - RA-155 for the army and RA-115-01 for the navy (to be used under water). The weight of one device was 30 kilograms and it could be armed by a single operator in just 10 minutes.[4] These weapons, which were called "nuclear backpacks" ("yadernyi ranets"), had a yield of 0.5 to 2 kilotons and could contaminate areas of up to 10 square kilometers.

Originally posted by Burginthorn
Both U.S. and the USSR built nuclear mines (as well as artillery shells), which were small but hardly portable–and all were dismantled by treaty by 2000.

Russia was supposed to have eliminated all "nuclear mines" - the category, into which "nuclear suitcases" should fall - according to the 1991 unilateral statements by Presidents George Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev, but implementation of these initiatives has not yet been completed. In 2002, Russia announced that the deadline for completion was extended from 2000 to 2004 due to insufficient funds. To date, there has been no official update on the status of this work.

Originally posted by Burginthorn
Alexander Lebed’s claims and those of defector Stanislev Lunev were not based on direct observation.

the sensational statement by General Lebed was based on an incomplete study. That study was launched in 1996 in response to reports that several portable nuclear devices had been stolen and landed in the hands of Chechen separatists, but it was not completed by the time Lebed was forced to resign from the position of the Secretary of the Security Council. It remained unknown whether the study was completed and which methods were used, specifically, whether the commission only checked records or also matched records to actual weapons.

Originally posted by Burginthorn
The one U.S. official who saw a small nuclear device said it was the size of three footlockers–hardly a suitcase.

Academician Alexei Yablokov, claimed that "suitcase nukes" had been under the control of the KGB, and consequently the records of the Ministry of Defense were incomplete).

The threat of dirty bombs, biowarfare and nuclear terrorism drew the attention of the European Union's executive on Wednesday (24 June), which proposed a policy package aimed at strengthening chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear security in the bloc.

From theoretical worries that militant groups may one day acquire fissile material to launch an attack on civilians in Europe to the very real examples of the polonium poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in 2006, the European Commission outlined an action plan to combat such attacks.

The €100 million plan contains 133 measures that focus on making unauthorised access to CBRN materials as difficult as possible, as well developing the capability of detecting them instantly should the need arise.

The commission also hopes to ensure that the EU and its member states are able to respond to a CBRN attack efficiently and then recover as rapidly as possible.

July 27, 2009


Russia has released a suspected organized crime boss who is wanted by the United States for fraud and racketeering, an Interior Ministry spokeswoman said on Monday.

[---]

Mogilevich and alleged associate Vladimir Nekrasov were released because the terms under which they could be held had expired, said Irina Dudukina, a spokeswoman at the Interior Ministry's Investigative Committee.

Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Dudukina said Monday a court released Semyon Mogilevich on an oath not to flee. She said Mogilevich was released Friday along with his business partner Vladimir Nekrasov.

[---]

The FBI has said that a crime ring run by Mogilevich in Budapest in the 1990s engaged in drug and weapons trafficking, among other things.

October 24, 2009


"He has access to so much, including funding, including other criminal organizations, that he can, with a telephone call and order, affect the global economy," said FBI Supervisory Special Agent Peter Kowenhoven.

[---]

"He's a big man. He's a very powerful man," FBI Special Agent Mike Dixon said. "I think more powerful than a John Gotti would be, because he has the ability to influence nations. Gotti never reached that stature."

11 Oct 2010


Most of the HEU in Eastern Europe has been stored since Soviet times, often in badly maintained and poorly guarded facilities where for years underpaid staff were potentially vulnerable to bribery by well-funded terrorists

In the past year this journey, lasting three weeks, has been repeated five times, moving 1,000 lbs of Polish HEU in total - enough to make 18 atom bombs - at a cost to the US taxpayer of $60 million.

The Global Threat Reduction Initiative decided to forgo its usual secrecy rules and invite The Sunday Telegraph to observe the final shipment, in order to make its work in Poland public; details can now be revealed after it arrived safely at its destination.

Intelligence agencies will not reveal their reasons for being so frightened now about what for years seemed a remote and unlikely risk.

But it may be because of the deeply troubling cases of smuggling that surface from time to time in Eastern Europe, hinting at the existence of a nuclear black market.

Mogilevich is a Ukrainian-born organised crime boss, believed to be the "boss of bosses" of most Russian Mafia syndicates in the world. He is understood to control a vast criminal empire and has been called "the most dangerous mobster in the world"

Semion Mogilevich appears to be the new #1 Most Wanted.