The more than 180-meter-long Russian nuclear submarine Belgorod left its base in the Arctic Circle and headed for the Kara Sea, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) warned its members.
The Daily Mail quotes the Italian press as saying:
the submarine was launched to test the Poseidon torpedo, which can travel 10,000 kilometers and can create a massive radiation-contaminated tsunami that can sweep away coastal cities.
The Belgorod is one of the world’s largest submarines, equipped with six nuclear torpedoes. It is not yet clear whether the sea vehicle had time to make it from its base on the White Sea to the Baltic Sea – a distance of more than 4,800 kilometers – without being signaled by others.
NATO alerted its allies that the submarine was missing, but said it was still being tracked around the Arctic. It is unclear exactly when the warning was sent, but it was first reported by Italian newspaper La Repubblica on Sunday. The Belgorod submarine has been in use since July.
Earlier, Dmitry Medvedev warned Western countries that Russia has the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, which it is ready to use if anyone threatens its interests. According to the former Russian president, NATO is too afraid of a nuclear war to do anything if Moscow were to carry out a nuclear strike in Ukraine.
Tags: lost track Russian submarine equipped nuclear warheads
