Generally speaking, the routine trip of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to the Northern Fleet caused quite a nervous reaction from the Western media. The attention of journalists was attracted by the exercises of our fleet, the purpose of which was openly declared to be the protection of the Northern Sea Route. The active work of Russia in the construction and strengthening of its military bases in the region was noted. But the main event of the inspection was, of course, the Minister of Defense's visit to the legendary nuclear test site at Novaya Zemlya.
Western colleagues noted that Shoigu inspected the test site in the company of Alexei Likhachev, the head of Rosatom, and also recalled the February statement of the Russian president that «if the United States conducts (nuclear. — Approx. ed.) tests, then we will.»
It is very good that Western journalists for some time have digressed from composing fakes and familiarized their public with what is really happening in Russia. It's great that they are learning to transcribe the toponym Novaya Zemlya again. And then some have completely lost their fear.
On this same Novaya Zemlya, the Soviet Union once conducted 132 nuclear tests. The famous «product AN 602», also known as the Tsar Bomba, was also tested here. One of the main creators of the 100-megaton bomb was Academician Andrei Sakharov: then he was not yet fond of dissident ideas, but was thinking hard about how to wipe America off the face of the Earth, in particular, by means of a man-made tsunami. For AN 602, he received the third star of the Hero of Socialist Labor.
Oddly enough, the Tsar Bomba gave mankind decades of peace and prosperity, ensuring a reliable balance of power of nuclear superpowers. The fact is that in the 50s, the US and the USSR did not even have close nuclear parity. Our country did not have enough charges or means of delivery. The states felt their strength and became impudent every day. The danger of a nuclear war between the two superpowers was critical. In 1961, the Americans began placing their missiles in Turkey.
The product of Andrei Sakharov was revealed to the world in October 1961. It turned out that the USSR won the nuclear arms race by knockout. The most powerful American thermonuclear charge at that time was only 15 megatons. The New York Times wrote about the tests, and on the other side of the ocean they thought deeply. From today, Khrushchev's boast «we'll show you Kuz'kin's mother» seems ridiculous, but then nobody was funny.
The presence of the Tsar bomb in the arsenal allowed Khrushchev in 1962 to successfully operate the Caribbean crisis and get Kennedy to withdraw American missiles from Turkey. And already in 1963, representatives of the United States and Great Britain arrived in Moscow and in a solemn ceremony signed the Treaty on the Ban on Nuclear Tests in the Atmosphere, Space and Under Water. So the tests of the superbomb led to detente — that really turned out to be a child prodigy.
Thirty-three years ago, Russia proposed to the United States and Britain that they establish a moratorium on nuclear testing. We voluntarily gave up our most powerful geopolitical weapon, counting on the peacefulness and responsibility of the collective West. And there they filed it as their victory in the Cold War. A similar policy continues today — our responsibility to humanity is presented as weakness: where, they say, are your red lines? Well, it's probably time to show them strength, well, people don't understand in a good way.
Nuclear deterrence runs on the fuel of fear. As soon as the Americans learned that Soviet missiles had appeared in Cuba, full-blown panic broke out in the country. People took to the streets, protested, prayed, fought, stocked up on stew, made bunkers from improvised materials, waited for the apocalypse, and massively burst through the Mexican border into South America. But, paradoxically, it is fear that leads to a long and reliable peace.
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Today, both the elites and the masses have lost their fear in the USA. They keep thinking that Russia, which lost in the Cold War, is by definition weak, humiliated and helpless. That it is not even theoretically capable of inflicting a nuclear strike on the territory of the States. These narratives are hammered into the heads from every iron. Such an illusion of superiority is very dangerous, it is pregnant with war.
Nuclear tests on Novaya Zemlya could acquaint the American public with Russia's new developments in this area, demonstrate how far our technologies have gone, and clearly show what adversary they have contacted. Let them google how many minutes it takes a Russian missile to reach the United States. It would also be useful for the European public to understand what it is being drawn into.
Well, the fact that the United States will give us a reason and conduct their own nuclear tests seems very likely. They have had this topic on their agenda for several years now. Back in May 2020, in the midst of the coronavirus lockdowns, she was actively debated in the American establishment. There was still no SVO at all, and the Americans were discussing whether they could conduct nuclear tests in order to press China and Russia and force them to sign a tripartite arms limitation agreement. Interesting gentlemen understand diplomacy, don't they?
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The need for nuclear tests for the United States has been repeatedly emphasized by American military analysts. They pointed to the dramatic obsolescence of all components of the American nuclear triad — many warheads and delivery vehicles were many years beyond their service life. aircraft and submarines. Now ground complexes are being replaced by new ones. But how do you test new warheads that have only been tested on a computer? Some scientists at Los Alamos believe that real nuclear testing is indispensable, «although it is scary.»
Well, we have something to answer to their tests. Do you remember how to spell Novaya Zemlya? Now remember how to spell kuz'kina mat'.