12th Chief Directorate

12th Chief Directorate

The 12th Chief (or "Main") Directorate of the Ministry of Defense (12 GU MO) of the former USSR and of the modern Russian Federation (Russian: 12 Главное Управление Министерства Обороны СССР/РФ (Ядерно-техническое обеспечение и Безопасность) is a department within the Russian (ex-Soviet) Ministry of Defense responsible for safe-keeping, technical maintenance, transportation, delivery, issuance, disposal, etc. of the nuclear arsenal of the state. The agency is also responsible for testing of nuclear charges, for ecological safety of such testing, and for maintenance of Soviet/Russian testing grounds, known in Russian as “polygons” – in Semipalatinsk (Semipalatinsk Test Site, now Kazakhstan) and on Novaya Zemlya Archipelago.

Unlike the GRU (Chief Directorate of Intelligence), the 12th GU MO is not a chief directorate of the General Staff, but a chief directorate of the Ministry of Defense. As such it is not subordinated to the Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet/Russian Armed Forces, but directly to the Minister of Defense, which makes it higher in status compared to the GRU. Position of the Chief of the 12th GU MO is equal to that of the commander of a military district, and supposed to be occupied by a 4-star General or by a Marshal of Artillery. However, in practice, out of seven chiefs of this Organization, only one (E.V. Boichuk) has held such a high rank – the other six were only three-star Generals.