Video of Russian President Vladimir Putin released Wednesday shows him arriving in China with what appears to be the so-called nuclear “football,” which he can use to order a nuclear strike.
“This is not a coincidence,” Rebekah Koffler, president of Doctrine & Strategy Consulting and a former Defense Intelligence Agency officer, told Fox News Digital.
“The Kremlin almost certainly deliberately orchestrated the filming of Putin’s version of the ‘nuclear football’ – which is almost never done — and had the Russian media, which the Kremlin controls, highlight the fact that ‘certain suitcases’ always accompany the Russian president on trips,” she said.
Putin visited China at a time when he needed to drum up more support for his cause at home as his invasion of Ukraine drags on, having lasted 20 months longer than the roughly two weeks his advisors suggested necessary to capture Kyiv and then take control of the country.
A political consultant and a Kremlin official told The Moscow Times that the trip aimed to rally the Russian public behind Putin and his invasion, but Putin returned without any major deals – for either energy or agriculture – that he had hoped to achieve.
The briefcase remains close to Putin at all times but rarely has ever been shown – especially in such a blatant and focused way. The officer carrying the case is from the naval branch and is known as the “Cheget” after Mount Cheget in the Caucasus Mountains.
