Satellite images show Russia building up its secret nuclear bases

Business 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.

03:02Up next 3 January 31st 2022, it leads to Atlas Lair Would Elf choke BP for

03:11ERD之 States, which is where it is located.

03:12In this case, if the people embarked on and local small-yieldân ninja, it doesn't seem

03:17to have to be seen for a whole new site so that the actual building is cleared until the

03:20large-scale operation QUT measures into other states at the base of the P conditioner.

03:23For what that allows us to call us?

03:25So lets go before and wait for a few moments What happens?

03:27What happens when we do?

03:28It is clear if its peak is active.

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