Nuclear theft

last updated 8 January 2015

Moscow

Chechen terrorists have tried to steal nuclear warheads twice in the past three years, Russia’s head of nuclear safety revealed this week. Col. Gen. Igor Valynkin said that groups of militants were caught trying to break into a warhead warehouse in 2002 and 2003. He did not say what became of them. Other Russian officials agreed that Chechens pose a nuclear security threat. Viktor Ilyukhin, deputy chairman of the parliamentary committee on security, told Ekho Moskvy radio that many Chechens have inside knowledge because they had served in the Soviet army. “Many even have experience of guarding our crucial facilities,” he said.