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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