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Russian suitcase nukes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suitcase_nuke
In 1997, former Russian National Security Advisor Alexander Lebed made public claims about lost “suitcase nukes” following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In an interview with the newsmagazine 60 Minutes, Lebed said:
I’m saying that more than a hundred weapons out of the supposed number of 250 are not under the control of the armed forces of Russia. I don’t know their location. I don’t know whether they have been destroyed or whether they are stored or whether they’ve been sold or stolen, I don’t know.[citation needed]
However, the Russian government immediately rejected Lebed’s claims. Russia’s Ministry for Atomic Energy went so far as to dispute that suitcase nuclear weapons had even ever been developed by the Soviet Union. Later testimony however insinuated that the suitcase bombs had been under the control of the KGB and not the army or the atomic energy ministry, so they might not know of their existence. Russian president Vladimir Putin, in an interview with Barbara Walters in 2001, stated about suitcase nukes, “I don’t really believe this is true. These are just legends. One can probably assume that somebody tried to sell some nuclear secrets. But there is no documentary confirmation of those developments.”[citation needed]
The highest-ranking GRU defector Stanislav Lunev claimed that such Russian-made devices do exist and described them in more detail.[7] These devices, “identified as RA-115s (or RA-115-01s for submersible weapons)” weigh from fifty to sixty pounds. They can last for many years if wired to an electric source. In case there is a loss of power, there is a battery backup. If the battery runs low, the weapon has a transmitter that sends a coded message—either by satellite or directly to a GRU post at a Russian embassy or consulate.” According to Lunev, the number of “missing” nuclear devices (as found by General Lebed) “is almost identical to the number of strategic targets upon which those bombs would be used.”[7]
Lunev suggested that suitcase nukes might be already deployed by the GRU operatives at the US soil to assassinate US leaders in the event of war.[7] He alleged that arms caches were hidden by the KGB in many countries for the planned terrorism acts. They were booby-trapped with “Lightning” explosive devices. One of such cache, which was identified by Vasili Mitrokhin, exploded when Swiss authorities tried to remove it from woods near Berne. Several others caches were removed successfully.[8] Lunev said that he had personally looked for hiding places for weapons caches in the Shenandoah Valley area[7] and that “it is surprisingly easy to smuggle nuclear weapons into the US” either across the Mexican border or using a small transport missile that can slip undetected when launched from a Russian airplane.[7] US Congressman Curt Weldon supported claims by Lunev but noted that Lunev had “exaggerated things” according to the FBI.[9] Searches of the areas identified by Lunev have been conducted, “but law-enforcement officials have never found such weapons caches, with or without portable nuclear weapons.”[10]