MOSCOW – “Kommersant-Daily” on 24 October reprinted a story in “The Times” reporting that there is growing concern that dozens of portable nuclear munitions (the so-called “suitcase bombs”) from the Soviet arsenal in the 1970s may have disappeared and found their way into the hands of international terrorist groups.
Former Russian Security Council head Aleksandr Lebed noted in 1997 that most of the more than 100 such “suitcase bombs” built had gone missing, describing them as “ideal for blackmail and terror”.
According to “Kommersant-Daily,” agents of Osama bin Laden have tried to acquire such portable nuclear weapons, which were vulnerable to theft or disappearance because they were at the disposal of the Soviet security services.
In contrast, the Soviet conventional nuclear arsenal was well guarded by the Soviet military.
