HEADLINES FROM 1950-2024, INCLUSIVE: Russia ready to execute nuclear attacks on NATO targets, according to leaked documents.

Western sources have reportedly leaked Russian plans drawn up between 2008 and 2014 for “a series of overwhelming strikes across Western Europe,” the Financial Times reported.

Citing documents from Western security sources, Putin allegedly sought to enable the Russian navy to execute nuclear strikes within NATO territory were a conflict with the alliance to emerge.

Targets would not be solely military. According to William Alberque, a former NATO official, “There could be hundreds, if not thousands, of targets mapped across Europe, including military and infrastructure targets.”

Russia is also evidently still capable of transporting nuclear weapons on surface ships, which experts say carries a significant risk of escalation or accident. The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I), signed by the U.S. and Russia in 1991, was supposed to have eliminated this possibility, although many have often questioned Moscow’s adherence to it.

Possible targets presented by the FT included the west coast of France, military installations in Norway, Germany, and Estonia, as well as the British port town of Barrow-in-Furness, known for its production of nuclear submarines.

None of this is exactly news and hardly required any leaks. For whatever reason — I can think of a couple — those “Western sources” wanted to use the press to issue a reminder.