A Dangerous Moment of Insecurity

Jan. 5, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—A senior military source, commenting on the article “Playing with Atomic Fire” (in German) (“Spiel mit dem atomaren Feuer”) by Col. Ralph Bosshard (ret.) on Ukraine’s extremely dangerous Dec. 26 attack on the Russian airbases in Saratov and Ryazan, told EIR that the attacks constituted a “dangerous moment of insecurity,” because Engels airbase is a Russian nuclear strategic base. He compared it to an attack on the U.S. Pacific and Atlantic Fleet strategic naval bases at San Diego, California or Norfolk, Virginia. He warned that there has now been a loss of the transparency that existed at those bases as part of the superpower agreement; that transparency is lost, he said, because the Russians were compelled to disperse the aircraft. Russia is now compelled to take measures to protect other nuclear assets.

The source also said that had a European NATO country assisted Ukraine, he would think it would have been the British, since, as a nuclear power, Britain would have the intelligence capabilities to assist in such an operation (although he would not publish it, because he could not prove it); furthermore, he said that the British are the most directly involved in Ukraine. He also agreed to the characterization that, because of these attacks, a chessboard has been activated being the potential for a superpower confrontation, because now Russia’s nuclear strategic assets have been directly targeted.

He had a further observation on the question of nuclear assets and intelligence sharing: Whereas NATO has its structures and procedures in this area for cooperation, in reality any cooperation is bilateral with another nation and not through NATO structures.