In an under-reported story, a treasure trove of information about Russia’s nuclear weapon infrastructure has been hacked and released.
A massive security breach has exposed terrifying details about Russia’s rapidly expanding nuclear weapons programme, including what experts say is a significant advance in hypersonic missile technology. Documents obtained and analysed by German magazine Der Spiegel and Danish investigative outlet Danwatch reveal that Western companies—including the German gypsum manufacturer Knauf—are supplying materials used to expand Russia’s secretive nuclear weapons bases.
The leaked files include detailed blueprints and procurement lists from Russian military construction projects, providing rare insight into the infrastructure behind Moscow’s nuclear arsenal. Among the materials specified are cement, plaster, adhesives, insulation, and cladding, many supplied by Western firms. Knauf, based in Iphofen, Bavaria, features prominently. Although the company has publicly distanced itself from its Russian operations, the documents show it still controls its Russian subsidiaries.
At one point, one of these subsidiaries was even classified as “systemically important” within Vladimir Putin’s economy, underlining the company’s continued strategic role in supplying construction materials vital to Russia’s military build-up.
The documents detail construction at the nuclear base near Yasnyj, featuring blueprints for watchtowers and military facilities. European military experts confirmed some sites—including Yasnyj—have been equipped with Russia’s Avangard system, a hypersonic glide vehicle designed to evade missile defences by manoeuvring at extreme speeds.
Like all Russia’s hypersonic missiles, I have grave doubts that Avangard (first announced in 2019) comes anywhere near its Wunderwaffen specs.
Satellite imagery analysed by Der Spiegel shows these sites have been modernised with reinforced structures, upgraded defences, and sensor technology, built from higher-grade materials than in previous decades.
New missile silos, designed to house around 900 strategic warheads, are better fortified and concealed.
The leaked procurement data also reveals how Russia is getting around Western sanctions. Direct deliveries from Germany to Russian defence entities are banned, but Russian buyers use intermediaries.
One example is a small firm in Yekaterinburg, which won a contract to buy Knauf plaster for the 368th regiment at Yasnyj.
A Knauf spokesperson told Der Spiegel: “The management of the Knauf Group and the Knauf family condemn Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”
But evidently not enough to stop doing business with them.
The revelations come amid mounting concern over Russia’s expanding nuclear arsenal and the international implications of Moscow’s continued military modernisation despite sanctions.
As before, I continue to have doubts as to how much nuclear weapons modernization Russia can pay for. The United States is going to spend some $634 billion this decade maintaining its nuclear deterrent. The U.S. spends more money maintaining nuclear weapons in a given year than Russia spends annually on its entire military.
Danwatch has more information on the breach, but the top of the page is very slide-show heavy before you get to the meat at the bottom.
Danwatch, in collaboration with German Der Spiegel, can for the first time reveal previously unknown details about the enormous upgrade of the military infrastructure at Russia’s most protected facilities.
Together we have analyzed more than two million documents relating to Russian military procurement that Danwatch systematically retrieved from a public database over a period of many months. The Russian authorities have gradually restricted access to the database, but we managed to circumvent these restrictions by using a veriety of digital techniques, including a network of servers located in Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus.
Given computer security standards in most organizations, the idea that sensitive information was just sitting on a publicly accessible server for years at a time is entirely too plausible.
The documents reveal how numerous new facilities have been built across all of Russia: Entire bases have been almost leveled and rebuilt from the ground up; hundreds of new barracks, watchtowers, control centers and storage buildings have been erected; and several kilometers of underground tunnels have been excavated.
I can’t imagine that Putin is pleased that every nation in the world now has precise location targeting information for those sites…
