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.
Read more about 12th Chief Directorate: Officers, Main Structure and Tasks, Secrecy, Nuclear Arsenal Base Typical Structure, Nuclear Arsenal Bases Functioning and Training, Security, History, Special Control Service (SSK), Structure of The 12th GU MO, Arsenals, SSK Headquarters and Laboratories, 626 Battalion SN, Objects «C», Tactical Nuclear Munitions, See Also, Sources and References
Famous quotes containing the word chief:
“A regular council was held with the Indians, who had come in on their ponies, and speeches were made on both sides through an interpreter, quite in the described mode,—the Indians, as usual, having the advantage in point of truth and earnestness, and therefore of eloquence. The most prominent chief was named Little Crow. They were quite dissatisfied with the white man’s treatment of them, and probably have reason to be so.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)