Russia - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs - Harvard ...

Now that a conventional terrorist attack has failed to meet their political objectives,
Chechnya-based radical separatists may see catastrophic nuclear terrorism as one of the few options
that will force Russia into leaving Chechnya.
“We cannot guarantee that there will not be another group on Russian territory,”
Maskhadov’s envoy Akhmed Zakayev said after the hostage-taking drama in Moscow ended.
“Terrorist acts are possible. We cannot exclude that the next such group takes over some nuclear
facility. The results may be catastrophic, not only for Russian society and for Chechen society but
for the whole of Europe.” 65
Proof of motivation. There is much proof of Chechnya-based radical separatists’ motivation to
commit acts of catastrophic nuclear terrorism and engage in WMD coercion, and it ranges from a
plan to hijack an atomic submarine to threats to attack Russia’s NBC facilities.
Perhaps the most stunning instance of the possibility of a nuclear terrorism attack was
revealed in January 2002 when federal troops found late Chechen president Dzhokhar Dudayev’s
personal archive in the village of Starye Atagi, which contained a detailed plan to hijack a Russian
atomic submarine. Vladimir Moltenskoi, commander of the federal troops in Chechnya, told
reporters a month later that the plan provided for seven Slav-looking fighters to seize a submarine
from the Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet sometime in 1995-96, which would coerce Moscow into
withdrawing troops from Chechnya and recognizing the republic as an independent state.
Moltenskoi said detailed military maps of Primorskii Krai, where the Pacific Fleet has bases, were
found along with the plan. According to an April 26, 2002 Russian television report, the plan
65 Gleb Bryanski, “Denmark: Interview-Chechens Could Strike Nuclear Plant Next,” Reuters, October 27, 2002.
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