Vladimir Putin has often rattled the nuclear sabre since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Vladimir Putin has sent many nuclear warnings to the West in recent years (Image: Getty)
As fears continue to grow over the threat Russia poses to European security, concerns of wider conflict and nuclear weapons still linger. Vladimir Putin has regularly rattled the nuclear sabre since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 in a warning to the West over its support to Kyiv.
In recent years, Moscow has placed its weapons on heightened alert, tested and deployed new nuclear capabilities, suspended participation in nuclear treaties and also said it would deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus — the first time the Kremlin has based nuclear weapons outside of Russia since the end of the Soviet Union. While many experts will argue nuclear war is an unlikely scenario, a leaked dossier has allegedly revealed a hitlist of targets Russia’s navy could strike with nuclear-capable missiles in the event of war with NATO. Among the 32 locations in Europe, three are said to be in the UK.
A Russian nuclear missile during a military parade in Red Square, Moscow (Image: Getty)
Prime targets in Britain are the Royal Navy submarine shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, a suspected industrial site near Hull, Yorkshire, and an undisclosed target in Edinburgh, the Financial Times reports.
Russia’s naval Northern Fleet would reportedly be expected to hit the defence industrial sites in the UK, as well as others in Norway and Estonia.
The details were first reported by the FT in August 2024.
The 32 targets are from a cache of 29 leaked secret Russian military files which predates Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Maps of the targets are detailed in a presentation for officers, according to the FT which reported it was shown the files by Western sources.
The documents show Russia’s Baltic fleet would focus on sites in Norway and Germany.
They also show targets in Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey, as well as in nations like Iran, Japan and China in the event of a conflict beyond Europe.
On Monday, the Kremlin welcomed Donald Trump’s comments about Russia’s offer to extend the last remaining nuclear arms treaty with the US.
Mr Putin last month declared he was ready to adhere to nuclear arms limits under the 2010 New START arms reduction treaty for one more year and urged Washington to follow suit.
The US President said it “sounds like a good idea” on Sunday, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying Mr Trump’s statement “gives grounds for optimism”.
Mr Putin said the expiration of the New START agreement would be destabilising and could fuel proliferation of nuclear weapons.
