Reuters-Putin filmed in China accompanied by officers with Russian nuclear briefcase
October 18, 2023 4 min 798 words
这则报道呈现了罕见的一幕，俄罗斯总统普京在中国北京与习近平会面后，被两名身着制服的俄罗斯海军军官护卫，他们分别携带所谓的核动力公文包。这些公文包可以用于下令发动核打击。报道指出，这种俄罗斯核公文包通常由海军军官携带，被称为“契格特”，一直伴随总统，但极少被拍摄。报道还提到，美国总统也有类似的设备，被称为“核足球”，用于验证发动核导弹的指令。 这一场景背后暗示了核武器的存在和对全球政治格局的影响。乌克兰战争升级了莫斯科与华盛顿之间的紧张关系，这是自1962年古巴导弹危机以来的最高级别，与此同时，中国也在努力扩充核武库，以匹配其崛起的超级大国地位。 这个报道引发了对全球安全格局的深刻思考，特别是在国际关系变得日益复杂和紧张的时候。核武器问题不仅仅影响着俄美关系，还关系到中国的军事野心。这也是全球政治舞台上的一个紧迫问题，需要各国领导人之间的建设性对话和合作来确保和平与稳定。
Rare footage was shown on Wednesday of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing accompanied by officers carrying the so-called nuclear briefcase which can be used to order a nuclear strike.
Putin, after a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, was filmed walking to another meeting surrounded by security and followed by two Russian naval officers in uniform each carrying a briefcase. The camera zooms in on one of the briefcases.
Russia's nuclear briefcase is traditionally carried by a naval officer. Known as the "Cheget" (named after Mount Cheget in the Caucasus Mountains), the briefcase is with the president at all times but is rarely filmed.
"There are certain suitcases without which no trip of Putin's is complete," the Kremlin correspondents of state news agency RIA said in a post on Telegram under the footage.
In another clip, Putin walks out of a meeting in Beijing with the naval officers again filmed just a few paces from Putin who grins as he walks down some stairs.
The U.S. president also has such a device - called the "nuclear football". The satchel holds the codes the president would use to authenticate an order to launch nuclear missiles should he or she not be at the White House.
The Ukraine war has raised tensions between Moscow and Washington to the highest level since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis just as China seeks to bolster its nuclear arsenal to accord with its status as an emerging superpower.
Russia's parliament took the first step on Tuesday towards revoking ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and its top lawmaker warned the United States that Moscow might even abandon the pact altogether.
Essentially, the briefcase is a secure communication tool that links the president to his military top brass and thence to rocket forces via the highly secret "Kazbek" electronic command-and-control network. Kazbek supports another system known as "Kavkaz".
The Russian defence minister, currently Sergei Shoigu, also has a nuclear briefcase. The chief of the general staff, currently Valery Gerasimov, may also have one.
Footage shown by Russia's Zvezda television channel in 2019 showed what it said was one of the briefcases with an array of buttons.
In a section called "command" there are two buttons: a white "launch" button and a red "cancel" button. The briefcase is activated by a special flashcard, according to Zvezda.
One of the nuclear briefcases used by former Russian President Boris Yeltsin is displayed in the Yeltsin Museum in Yekaterinburg.
Putin is visiting Beijing on his second known trip outside the former Soviet Union since the Ukraine war began in February 2022.