Does Russia have an equivalent dam in-country, that if destroyed would cause horrific harm to all near it? tit for tat is a bitch. What next, mustard gas? SMH.
On February 18, 1931, the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union decreed that Joseph Stalin’s White Sea-Baltic Canal would be built. Almost immediately, the OGPU — forerunner of the notorious KGB — set about arresting the country’s top engineers and architects.They accused them of scheming to sabotage Soviet infrastructure and industry. Really, they were needed to design the canal.
The military value of transferring warships through western Russia was clear, but the canal’s economic benefits were vaguely defined. Although Molotov and other senior leaders raised concerns, Stalin nevertheless ordered that the work begin. A brand-new prison, the Belomor (White Sea) gulag, was established, and the first contingent of prisoners was shipped out. To keep costs as low as possible, only materials found along the planned route were to be used: trees from forests on the Finnish border, mud and granite dug from the ground, and trace amounts of concrete toward the end of construction. The approach was brutally simple: the canal was to be built “Quickly. Tens of thousands died. It offers an inviting target.