Shadows were creeping eastward across the snow-covered terrain, the deep red sun descending toward the hills to the west as Mikhail Korenev’s car coasted to a halt outside the headquarters of the Northern Fleet Joint Strategic Command. Established in 2014, the joint command controlled Russia’s Northern Fleet and all ground and aerospace forces in the Murmansk and Arkhangelsk Oblasts, as well as the offshore islands along its northern coast.
After passing through the building’s security checkpoint and nodding to the two armed guards on duty, Korenev rode the elevator to the strategic command center, located several hundred feet underground and encapsulated within a twenty-foot-thick concrete shell. Upon reaching the reinforced entrance door, Korenev swiped his badge and entered his passcode. The door unlocked, providing access to the sprawling but mostly vacant command center.
Although nuclear strike orders would normally be issued from the main command center in Moscow or the alternate sites in Chekhov and Penza, Northern Fleet Joint Strategic Command served as a backup in case the primary and alternate sites were destroyed or otherwise rendered inoperable. Once a year, a heavily scrutinized training exercise was held to ensure Northern Fleet personnel were capable of transmitting nuclear launch orders to strategic units and Fleet ships armed with tactical nuclear weapons. The remaining 364 days of the year, however, were uneventful, and tonight the command center was quiet, with only the watch captain and two other men on duty, manning three of the thirty workstations.
After two hours, with the boredom of the night shift seeping in, Korenev stood and stretched, taking his snack bag with him to the tea station at the back of the room. As he passed behind the watch captain, Korenev glanced at the third man in the room, Arkady Timoshenko, who nodded his head slightly, signaling his willingness to proceed.
Korenev called down to the watch captain, asking if he wanted a cup of tea. The man replied affirmatively as expected, and Korenev reached into his pocket and retrieved the item the American had given him on the Red Arrow—a small vial of what was presumably eye drops—and he placed three drops of the liquid into the watch captain’s tea.
After delivering the drink to the watch captain, Korenev waited as the man sipped his tea, his eyelids growing heavy shortly thereafter. A few minutes later, his eyes closed and his head sagged onto his chest. After convincing himself that the watch captain was asleep, Korenev moved toward the double-door safe containing the nuclear authorization codes, where he was joined by Timoshenko. Korenev knew the combination to the outer door, while Timoshenko could open the inner door.
Before proceeding, Timoshenko asked about his payment. “Have you obtained the funding?”
Upon returning to Severomorsk, Korenev had verified that Mixell had deposited twenty million U.S. dollars into the account. “Everything is arranged,” Korenev replied. “Your half of the money will be transferred into this account.” He handed Timoshenko a letter.
As Timoshenko reviewed the information, Korenev entered his combination and opened the first door, then Timoshenko opened the second. Korenev pulled the contents from the safe, sorting through the material for the authorization codes for tactical nuclear weapons. Upon finding the packet, he wrote down one of the sixteen-digit codes. Only a single code was required, which could be entered into every warhead, so the launch platform didn’t have to individually arm each weapon.
Korenev replaced the contents of the safe, returning them to their previous locations, then shut and locked both doors. A half-hour later, with Korenev and Timoshenko at their workstations reading naval messages on their displays, the watch captain woke from a groggy sleep, then eyed Korenev and Timoshenko to see if either man had noticed his lapse. Both men remained focused on their screens as they heard the watch captain stir, then stand and visit the tea station for another dose of caffeine.
This was a critical part of the plan. Making the watch captain fall asleep instead of killing him was essential, as there could be no indication that the nuclear launch safeguards had been compromised. Until it was too late, that is.