A military convoy carrying up to six nuclear warheads was spotted late last week moving through Scotland, which comes as war between Russia and Ukraine rages on and Russian President Vladimir Putin has put his nuclear forces on high alert following his invasion.
“The convoy was carrying up to six nuclear warheads only a mile south of Glasgow city centre, heading to Royal Naval Armaments Depot Coulport on Loch Long, according to NukeWatch, an organization that tracks and monitors the convoys that transport the UK’s Trident nuclear warheads,” the Daily Mail reported. “The nuclear-armed convoy passed over Erskine Bridge, heading up along the M6 motorway near Kendal, before being spotted on the M74 at Lesmahagow and arriving in Loch Long at approximately 11:30pm on Saturday.”
“I think there were four warhead carriers I believe. Our reckoning is that each of those trucks can carry two but one of the trucks is empty as a spare in case [sic] breaks down,” Nukewatch UK Campaigner Jane Tallents told a local publication. “So if there’s four we expect there to be six warheads, or up to six warheads anyway.”
The organization claimed that the most likely reason that the warheads were transferred was for maintenance purposes, and not to prepare for their use in battle.
“I don’t think this convoy is of any more concern than the fact that we are always, 24/7, armed and ready to start a nuclear war,” Tallents said. “All the things that some of us have worried about constantly since the 60s, they come to pass really. People have forgotten about it but they are there.”
The move comes as the war in Ukraine has nearly reached the one-month mark since Russian forces invaded.
Shortly after Putin invaded Ukraine, he ordered the country’s nuclear forces be put on high alert.
“Citing ‘aggressive statements’ by NATO and tough financial sanctions, Putin issued a directive to increase the readiness of Russia’s nuclear weapons, raising fears that the invasion of Ukraine could lead to nuclear war, whether by design or mistake,” the Associated Press reported. “The Russian leader is ‘potentially putting in play forces that, if there’s a miscalculation, could make things much, much more dangerous,’ said a senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss rapidly unfolding military operations.”
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