Satellite images show Russia building up its secret nuclear bases

Insider

Russia has been upgrading and modernizing several nuclear bases for its European and Pacific forces. Business Insider obtained new satellite images that show the major construction at the sites.

Transcript

00:00Recent satellite images show Russia quietly upgrading five of its key nuclear weapons

00:05sites, some just miles from NATO territory.

00:09These modernisation efforts give us a glimpse into Moscow's potential plans for its nuclear

00:14forces.

00:15The first base is Asypovichy in central Belarus.

00:17A comparison between the satellite photos from April 2021 and May 2025 also shows the

00:23construction of a major roadway leading to a large platform.

00:28This appears to be built for offloading nuclear warheads from trains, while the roadway is

00:32likely meant to connect the train lines to the base.

00:36The second base is Gajievo, which is a navy depot that houses Russia's nuclear-launch-capable

00:41submarines.

00:43This August 2020 image shows a nuclear warhead in a crane next to a green container serving

00:49as a climate-control canister.

00:51The latest changes occur near the mountain entrance.

00:53Here's the Gajievo nuclear storage site in September 2022.

00:58By May 28, 2025, at least six new buildings have been constructed.

01:04Analysts suspect the structures might be storage sites for missiles not yet loaded with nuclear

01:09warheads.

01:10The third base is Western Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave that borders Lithuania and Poland.

01:16Next to a prison in the area is a base that served as a nuclear maintenance and deployment

01:22unit ever since the Soviet era.

01:23In this 2012 Google Street View photo, posters on the site's fences describe the unit's

01:29purpose and history.

01:31Back at the actual storage facility, a comparison of satellite images from 2020 and November 2022,

01:37shows that Russia uncovered and then reburied one of its bunkers.

01:41Kamchatka is across the Bering Sea from Alaska and is home to one of Russia's naval bases

01:47for its Pacific fleet.

01:49Analysts believe Russia holds or used to hold nuclear warheads in a storage facility near

01:53this mountain.

01:55But a satellite image from October 2022 shows that Russia was also starting to construct

02:00two new buildings.

02:01In this new image taken on June 3, 2025, the northernmost facility is completely covered

02:08and satellites can no longer peer inside.

02:10The fifth base is on the northern archipelago of Novaya Zimlia, which was where the Soviet

02:15Union detonated its Tsar thermonuclear bomb, the most powerful nuclear warhead ever detonated

02:21in 1961.

02:22Near the test site is a support base on the large island of Severny, as seen on March 21st 2021.

02:30By August 2023, it's clear the base has started to see significant additions, including a large

02:36new building being constructed at the southern end of the compound.

02:39A new photo from Planet Labs appears to show that the large building and other additions

02:44to the base have been completed.

02:47In the last decade, the US intelligence community has accused Russia of continuing to carry out

02:52small-yield nuclear blasts.

02:54They wouldn't be conducted on these sites, especially given the lack of significant security

02:58perimeters.

02:59But new signs of life here indicate that the base is active.

03:02And how can we do these sites, either?

03:05Maybe we can do this in the space.

03:06We can do this in the space.

03:07If you are beginning to have any of these sites, we have to realize that it has been built

03:09in the space in the space.

03:10This has been about 10 minutes, because there are most of the things that we are doing.

03:12And the last days of the year, we have to react to the large quantity of the

03:13user, which is an opportunity to address the fact that the visibility of the

03:14house is activated.

03:15You brought to the computer and the electronic property plant, which is the second option.

03:16It is a part of the device that we can do that.

03:17You can train them to get through, and to show up to the site.

03:18It is obviously a little bit difficult, but if I can tell you about it,

03:19it's only a lot of the use of the expertise proof of the

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