VLADIMIR Putin is closer to unleashing a nuclear strike than ever feared, leaked Russian military files suggest.
The bombshell papers reveal what it would take for Putin to hit the red button – including an invasion by China.
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According to the classified files, seen by the Financial Times, the threshold for Russia to fire a nuke is lower than Moscow has ever admitted.
Sabre-rattling Putin has repeatedly made chilling nuke threats – including vowing to wipe the UK off the map for supporting Ukraine.
The cache outlines in what scenarios Putin would trigger a nuclear response.
Despite Putin cozying up to Xi Jinping, the files reveal Russia’s eastern military district has rehearsed how a Chinese invasion could unfold.
In one exercise of a hypothetical attack from Beijing, the papers say Russia could respond with a nuke strike to stop “the South” from advancing with a second wave of force.
The document says: “The order has been given by the Commander-in-Chief. . . to use nuclear weapons. . . in the event the enemy deploys second-echelon units and the South threatens to attack further in the direction of the main strike.”
Unrelated to the China war games, the files say an enemy landing on Russian soil or an imminent enemy attack using conventional weapons could also spark a nuclear response.
Meanwhile, the explosive papers also reveal a nuke could be deployed in the case of a defeat of units responsible for securing border areas.
This could stoke fears Putin may discharge a nuke if Ukrainian forces go over the border into Russia amid the ongoing war.
More specific scenarios of a nuke being discharged include the destruction of 20 per cent of Russia’s strategic ballistic missile submarines, 30 per cent of its nuclear-powered attack submarines, three or more cruisers, three airfields, or a simultaneous hit on main and reserve coastal command centres.
Putin claimed last year that Russia’s nuke doctrine outlined two possible thresholds for using nuclear weapons.
The Russian dictator said these would be retaliation against a first nuclear strike by an enemy, and if “the very existence of Russia as a state comes under threat even if conventional weapons are used”.
But Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin, said it shows the tyrant’s threshold is “pretty low”.
He told the FT: “They [the files] show that the operational threshold for using nuclear weapons is pretty low if the desired result can’t be achieved through conventional means.”
The military files were drawn up between 2008 and 2014 – but experts say they remain relevant to Russia’s current doctrine.
Chillingly, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov today insisted Russia would be taking “additional measures to ensure security” because of the “hostile rhetoric” of Nato.
And Putin has a collection of terrifying superweapons at his disposal should he choose to follow through his nuclear threat.
The Russian leader has the hardware for every scenario imaginable and has assured the world his artillery is capable of mass destruction.
He previously bragged he will use nuclear weapons against the West if anyone interferes in Ukraine.
Putin has 5,977 nuclear warheads – the largest confirmed stockpile of nuclear warheads in the world.
In comparison, the UK has just 260.
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This frightening arsenal can be launched from land, submarines and planes.
They include non-strategic “battlefield” nukes which have a smaller destructive power — and radioactive fallout — and are intended to destroy military capabilities rather than civilian populations.
They can be anything from land mines to torpedos and have not been deployed before.
Russia also has the more feared strategic nuclear weapons, which can be launched as warheads on powerful long-range missiles.
They include intercontinental ballistic missiles which would take just 20 minutes to get to Britain — and 30 to the US.
These strategic weapons, with deliberately terrifying names such as Satan, are designed to wipe out entire cities.
Putin’s crony Aleksey Zhuravlyov previously threatened to nuke Britain with its Satan-2 hypersonic missile in 200 seconds.
Standing at the colossal height of a 14-storey tower block, the 208-ton RS-28 Sarmat missile is capable of striking targets at almost 16,000mph.
Following up on Zhuavlyov’s warning, another of Putin’s allies, Dmitry Rogozin, bragged Satan-2 nuke can demolish “half of the US coast”.
Meanwhile, US intelligence this month warned Russia is planning to launch nuclear weapons into space in a “grave” threat to the world’s security.
Such a weapon could pose a major danger to Western satellites that transmit billions of bytes of data each hour.
And this week, a convoy of Russian Yars missile launchers were seen travelling 250 miles to Moscow after Sweden was approved to join Nato.
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