As concerns mount that Vladimir Putin is preparing to conduct a nuclear test, new satellite photographs show Russia’s massive nuclear submarine loitering near the Barents Sea, purportedly carrying “apocalypse” and “doomsday” weaponry.
According to a NATO warning letter that was leaked over the weekend, the almost 600-foot-long Belgorod submarine has vanished from its home station in the Arctic Circle and may be traveling to the Kara Sea to test the Poseidon nuclear weapon.
Naval News published satellite photographs that suggest the submarine is now engaged in surface operations in the Arctic.
A few weeks ago, the ship was seen departing the Russian city of Severodvinsk on the White Sea. In the Barents Sea, it was subsequently discovered on September 22 and 27.
The Belogord, which weighs perhaps about 30,000 tons and is equipped with a Poseidon nuclear weapon, is the biggest submarine ever constructed.
A nuclear tsunami measuring 1,600 feet tall and intended to drown and irradiate coastal communities is reported to be capable of being unleashed by the drone Poseidon after it has traveled great distances underwater.
The weapon is a “Intercontinental Nuclear-Powered Nuclear-Armed Autonomous Torpedo” with “amazing range” and “hard-to-kill performance,” according to the US Navy.
A Poseidon test launch, according to analysts, is “nout of the question.” The launch could be routine, intended to test a new weapon system or make a political statement.
After being accused of directing covert assaults on the Nord Stream pipelines last week, if the test does go, it will represent Putin’s most recent effort to terrify the West over his losing war in Ukraine.
It was suggested that the Belgorod be used for the sabotage operation since it is equipped with mini-subs that can launch strikes on underwater infrastructure.
The 600-foot-long submarine, one of the biggest in the world, and the difficulty of entering the Baltic covertly raised questions about its role, however.
It is also uncertain if the Belgorod would have had enough time to travel the roughly 3,000 kilometers from its home base in the White Sea to the Baltic without being seen.
The submarine has now vanished, but NATO has warned its partners that it is still believed to be cruising the Arctic.
Although the precise date the warning was received is unknown, Italian tabloid La Repubblica broke the revelation on Sunday.
Since July, the Belgorod submarine has been in service.
One of the four next-generation weapons that Putin revealed back in 2018 is believed to be in use: Poseidon.
It can cruise up to 6,000 miles underwater, according to Russian media, before a nuclear warhead explodes in its snout with a force of two megatons, which is more than 130 times the amount of the bomb unleashed on Hiroshima.
According to official media, this would cause an irradiated tsunami that might be up to 1,600 feet high and was intended to flood coastal communities and turn them into nuclear waste grounds.
Due to international bans on nuclear weapon testing, the warhead has never been tested.
Even in the distant seas of the Arctic, it would be very provocative for Russia to violate those accords by testing Poseidon.
The announcement of a planned test coincides with Russian sabre-rattling over the use of nuclear weapons in the conflict in Ukraine, where Putin has been constrained by Western military shipments.
Up to 120 days might pass before the Belgorod needs to emerge.
The Poseidon drone, according to earlier TASS reports, has an infinite range and a top speed of more than 125 mph.
According to Admiral Igor Katasonov, chief analyst of the General Staff, “Unique qualities of the Poseidon system would permit the Navy to effectively engage aircraft carriers and strike groups of a possible opponent in any maritime theatre of war and destroy shore infrastructure installations.”
According to analyst H I Sutton, quoted by La Reppubblica, “It is an entirely new form of weapon that will compel Western warships to rethink their plans and devise new countermeasures.”
A video demonstrates how the deadly Poseidon drone torpedo is carried by the cutting-edge Belgorod submarine.
Kiselyov, a prominent official in Moscow’s potent state media propaganda apparatus who is closely monitored by Putin, said that Russia may launch its powerful Sarmat hypersonic missile, also known as the Satan-2, against Britain.
However, he told viewers in May that the Russian underwater robotic drone Poseidon was “another possibility” for plunging Britain into the ocean’s depths.
It moves toward the target at a speed of 200 kph (125 mph) and at a depth of one kilometer.
This underwater drone cannot be stopped.
It has a warhead that can produce up to 100 megatons of energy.
The detonation of this thermonuclear torpedo near to the British coast would cause a tsunami that might reach a height of 500 meters (1,640 feet).
“This tidal wave also transports radiation at exceedingly high levels.”
It will likely transform what is left of them into a radioactive wasteland when it surges over Britain.
“Permanently unfit for any use.
How do you feel about this potential? And on February 24 [if anybody interfered with his secret military operation], Putin issued a warning about it.
Putin claimed that the West had sabotaged the Russian-built Nord Stream pipelines, while Western sources maintain that Moscow was responsible for the heinous gas leaks that occurred in the Baltic.