Nuclear Monitor #940

Vladimir Slivyak

Last year, the Russian president announced the completion of tests on an intercontinental cruise missile powered by a nuclear engine. The missile was named ‘Burevestnik’ and, according to Putin, no one other than Putin possesses one. Among its features is the ability to fly for a long time; no one can shoot it down, and no one except those who launched it will know where it will land. In addition to its nuclear engine, the ‘Burevestnik’ (9M730, NATO designation SSC-X-9 Skyfall) is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

Questions remained regarding Putin’s ‘miracle missile’ concerning its speed (is it really impossible to shoot it down?) as well as radioactive emissions (a nuclear jet engine produces large quantities of radioactive substances during operation).

Meticulous American scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently built a model of such a missile and discovered that the issue of radioactive emissions has not been resolved at all – radioactive discharge is colossal.  Any operations involving such a missile will pose a serious danger to personnel, as well as to military personnel and the population living in the immediate vicinity of launch sites or test ranges where the ‘Burevestnik’ is being tested.

In short, it is, without exaggeration, a ‘flying Chernobyl’.

As for speed, American experts believe that the ‘Burevestnik’ travels at subsonic speeds, roughly comparable to that of a passenger airplane. In other words, it is entirely possible to shoot down such a ballistic missile.

So why do we need a ‘flying Chernobyl’ if ballistic missiles can already fly at a similar speed without it? It makes no sense as an additional radioactive threat, because the missile carries a nuclear warhead, the explosion of which would be significantly more powerful than that of any nuclear engine. So, billions of dollars have been spent, dozens of tests involving radioactive contamination have been carried out – one of which resulted in the deaths of seven people, nuclear scientists from Sarov – yet there is nothing fundamentally new about this weapon? Let me explain.

It turns out that the ‘Burevestnik’ is nothing more than a propaganda story, created solely to frighten naive foreigners. But this is no simple lie; it is backed by billions of dollars and the lives of nuclear weapons developers. This should make the whole world even more afraid.

The story of the ‘miracle missile’ is actually valuable in that it sheds light on other episodes of the war against Ukraine that many did not fully understand. For example, for what purpose were Russian soldiers sent in 2022 to the radioactively contaminated exclusion zone around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station? Let me remind you that the army was digging trenches there and breathing in radioactive dust, even though there was no military justification for these actions.

Furthermore, at the very start of the war, Europe’s largest nuclear power station was captured. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station remains occupied to this day by Russian troops, who are assisted by Russian state nuclear corporation “Rosatom” staff. Military operations are regularly taking place near the plant, jeopardising nuclear safety. And from the very start of the war, Russia has been resorting to blackmailing rhetoric, claiming that by supporting Ukraine, Western countries are increasing the risk of a nuclear accident at the plant, and that a radioactive cloud will inevitably blanket the whole of Europe. This is a civilian nuclear power station – these actions have no military justification whatsoever, other than to expand the scope for blackmail.

In 2025, a Russian drone attacked the protective shelter at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station. This is not a military facility either. It is a protective structure designed to ensure that dangerous radiation is contained within the sarcophagus built over Chernobyl’s fourth reactor, which exploded in 1986. Those 40 years old events, I should remind you, are regarded as the greatest man-made disaster in human history. Following the air strike, a six-meter hole and hundreds of small holes appeared in the protective shelter; the Ukrainians spent the whole year repairing them, but never fully restored it.

In 2026, a Russian drone attacked the nuclear waste storage facility at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station. Fortunately, it did not target the part of the facility where the waste is stored. And this, too, has no military justification whatsoever.

The overall picture, therefore, is that Russia, in the course of its protracted war with Ukraine, is pursuing a deliberate policy of nuclear blackmail against the rest of the world. What is distinctive is that nuclear weapons are no longer, as they once were, the main component of this policy; there are far more elements to it.

Hints at the use of nuclear weapons – from which there is no escape – have clearly ceased to frighten the enemy. So, what is Putin doing? He is trying to instill even greater fear – with images of crazed Russians breathing in radioactive dust, seizing nuclear power stations, bombing Chernobyl, and devising missiles that spew radioactive contamination, killing their own people. This is clearly intended to make the enemy believe that they are dealing with dangerous scum for whom pressing the red button is no big deal. Putin’s problem is that nobody believes him anymore. And he is not prepared for mutual destruction.