most of the world has never heard of the 12th main
directorate, but they're the secretive forces that
Vladimir Putin invokes every time he threatens to
deploy nuclear weapons. They protect and maintain
Russia's nuclear arsenal keepin custody of a weapon.
Until the moment it takes off, we sat down with top
nuclear weapons experts who knew them, just meeting
them the first time that was, you know, like meeting a
ghost, right Someone who wasn't even allowed to have
their picture taken in the former soviet union. Even
within Russia, it was not permitted to utter the words
12th Main directorate, Bill Moon led nuclear security
efforts through the US government's cooperative thr
reduction program from 2003 to 2012. And with Russian
security service is watching staff visited and secured
Russia's most sensitive sites, classified bases that
held thousands of nuclear warheads inherited after the
soviet Union's collapse and vulnerable to thieves and
terrorists. Just getting there was several days work.
You put in a van with your team for up to three hours
The van has the windows blocked out, you can't see out
of it. You're going over very bumpy roads Putin
permitted the visits but ended it all 10 years ago
wanting a more reciprocal arrangement. The for
haven't been allowed to speak with americans ever since
Even though men Moon new still work in the unit and
pavel pod wig researcher at the institute says the
directorate is compartmentalize They had this
nickname back in the soviet days deaf and dumb because
they were not supposed to tell anyone anything. Uh, and
to hear anything. I personally knew some of the
previous directors. These are they're responsible, very
professional people. Uh, they are not really
ideological. I think the, the culture in the 12
Director is really about professionalism though st
secretive today. It has a telegram channel. It makes no
mention of the war in Ukraine or Putin's nuclear
threats pod wig says they live in work at the same site
for their entire career. Moving only in job title, he
identified 12 national level storage sites and 35 base
level sites, some of which recently attracted us
surveillance. According to flight tracking websites.
There are certain spy planes that have been flying over
locations. Clinton grodd for example, what's there We
never went because we declined to offer assistance to
secure that site. So that's still certainly a sight of
high interest in the West. Moon says Russian forces
regularly move nuclear warheads for maintenance, which
leaves open the potential for misunderstanding as the
West monitors whether any actions match Putin's nuclear
rhetoric. This week, video shared on social media
appeared to show the unit transporting equipment by
rail, which moon confirms some it was Putin sending a
signal or preparations for drills. Moon says it may
show Russia taking trucks and weapons away from the
forces who guard nuclear warhead shipments to instead
armed troops fighting the war in Ukraine, experts say a
nuclear attack there would not help Russia's already
degraded troops. The environment on the battlefield
would be dramatically different because of the
radioactive fallout and all that. And then the the
general purpose forces of the tanks, the uh the
artillery. They would have a much difficult Putin can't
just press a button, officials say he has a chain of
command which would eventually reach the head of the
12th main directorate. Lieutenant General Igor
Kolesnikov would General Coales nick. Aww in any way
ever question an order. I don't know him personally. I
can't say so. The thing that to remember about the 12
main directorate is that they will very much separate
their mission and their duty from any sort of outlook
or political um sensibilities. It's all about the
mission. Senior officials say that if Putin were to
order a nuclear attack, they would see the signs,
experts tell Newsy that would include removing these
nuclear warheads from storage facilities transporting
them by special trucks or by rails and then they would
need to be made into missiles. Now, Russia has a wid
array of nuclear delivery systems more than the U.S.
And NATO. But I'm told that if Putin were to do this,
which could very well spell his own undoing. They would
expect to see this with Russia's Iskander missile
system. Back to you chance