By Patricia Neill
Matrix Editor
Matrix Editor
On April 16, 1996, the New York Times reported on a mysterious military base being constructed in Russia: “In a secret project reminiscent of the chilliest days of the Cold War, Russia is building a mammoth underground military complex in the Ural Mountains, Western officials and Russian witnesses say. Hidden inside Yamantau mountain in the Beloretsk area of the southern Urals, the project involved the creation of a huge complex, served by a railroad, a highway, and thousands of workers.”
The New York Times article quotes Russian officials describing the underground compound variously as a mining site, a repository for Russian treasures, a food storage area, and a bunker for Russia’s leaders in case of nuclear war. It would seem that the Russian Parliament knows as little about Russian underground bases as the Congress knows about Mount Weather in the United States. “The (Russian) Defense Ministry declined to say whether Parliament has been informed about the details of the project, like its purpose and cost, saying only that it receives necessary military information,” according to the New York Times.
“We can’t say with confidence what the purpose is, and the Russians are not very interested in having us go in there,” a senior American official said in Washington. “It is being built on a huge scale and involves a major investment of resources. The investments are being made at a time when the Russians are complaining they do not have the resources to do things pertaining to arms control.” Where’s the Money Coming From? The construction of the vast underground complex in Russia may very well become a cause of concern to the Clinton Administration. The issue of ultimate purpose for the complex, whether defensive (as with Mount Weather) or offensive (such as an underground weapons factory) is not the only issue Mr. Clinton has to worry about.
The real cause for concern is that the US is currently sending hundreds of millions of dollars to Russia, supposedly to help that country dismantle old nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, the Russian parliament has been complaining to Yeltsin that it cannot pay $250 million in back wages owed to its workers at the same time that it is spending money to comply with new strategic arms reduction treaties. Aviation Week and Space Technology reported that “It seems the nearly $30 billion a year spent on intelligence hasn’t answered the question of what the Russians are up to at Yamantau Mountain in the Urals. The huge underground complex being built there has been the object of U.S. interest since 1992. ‘We don’t know exactly what it is,’ says Ashton Carter, the Pentagon’s international security mogul.
The facility is not operational, and the Russians have offered ‘nonspecific reassurances’ that it poses no threat to the U.S.” U.S. law states that the Administration must certify to Congress that any money sent to Russia is used to disarm its nuclear weapons. However, is that the case? If the Russian parliament is complaining of a shortage of funds for nuclear disarmament, then how can Russia afford to build the Yamantau complex?
Are the Russians building an underground city akin to Mount Weather with American taxpayer’s money?
Could American funds be subsidizing a Russian weapons factory?
Hopefully Congress will get a firm answer to these questions before authorizing further funding to Russian military projects.
(c) Copyright 1996 ParaScope, Inc.
