Russian TV channels accidentally air Kremlin’s secret nuclear weapons plan

MOSCOW — Details of a new Russian submarine-launched nuclear torpedo have been shown on state-controlled TV, a secret the Kremlin said should never have been aired.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (C) chairs a meeting on the national defense sector at the Bocharov Ruchei state residence in Sochi on November 10. According to the Russian site, the torpedo’s detention “in the area of the enemy coast” would result in “extensive zones of radioactive contamination” that would ensure that the region would not be used for “military, economic, business or other activity” for a “long time”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov admitted the footage showed plans that were meant to be kept secret, saying “in [the] future, we will undoubtedly take preventative measures so this does not happen again”.

Two Kremlin-controlled channels, NTV and Channel One, broadcast the video on Tuesday before discovering the mistake.

This week, Putin has held four consecutive days of meetings on defense issues, and at has described NATO’s U.S.-led missile defense program an attempt to break nuclear parity.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says Moscow is working on weapons systems to counter the US’s so-called anti-missile shield.

Mr explained the Western defence endeavor was “an effort to sabotage the existing equality in tactical nuclear weapons and basically to upset the entire system of global and regional stability”. Pavel Felgenhauer, an independent military analyst, told AP, the new system is an update on Sakharov’s idea.

Podvig said the weapon appears to be a radiological weapon or “dirty bomb”, although delivery of a large nuclear warhead is not ruled out.

The document was an overview “of one of the projects that presumably were discussed at the meeting as part of the plan to restore that strategic balance that the United States missile defense system so blatantly undermines”, wrote Eugene Miasnikov, a co-author of Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces, in an analysis post.

The oceanic multi-purpose weapon system is created to destroy important economic installations of the enemy in coastal areas and cause guaranteed devastating damage to the country’s territory, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, reported.

The Russian President says America is attempting to hide its true motives for the development of NATO missile defence systems by referring to the nuclear threats of Iran and North Korea – when the real target is Russia. The project is known as “Ocean Multipurpose System ‘Status-6′”.