Nuclear bombs in Hungary? That is not a joke!

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his allies regularly threaten using nuclear weapons against the Western allies of Ukraine. Thus, it might be interesting to look into whether such weapons of mass destruction are or were stored in Hungary. The short but surprising answer is yes. Below you may read the details.

Member of the Socialist Block

Hungary was forced to “fight” alongside the members of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. However, tanks, warplanes and grenades were not the only military equipment the Red Army stored in Hungary those days. Nuclear warheads were also placed in Hungary to enable the Eastern Block to launch a nuclear attack quickly in case the Third World War broke out.

Borsod Online said the idea of storing such weapons of mass destruction outside the Soviet Union came after a military drill gone wrong in the 1960s. The simulation aimed to prove how quick Moscow could react in case of a war, but the results were frustrating. That is because the nuclear warheads had to be transported from the Soviet Union to military bases in East Europe. The process took too long. Therefore, the Soviet leadership decided to place nuclear warheads in Hungary, Romania, East Germany, etc.

The Hungarian leadership gave the green light for the Soviets to place nuclear weapons in Hungary in 1961. The first Scud-A rockets arrived in 1963, according to Rubicon. The venue was the so-called ‘Little Moscow’, built deep in the forests of Bakony, in the centre of a triangle (Szentgál-Tótvázsony-Nagyvázsony).

Read alsoHungary underground: The secret bunker near the Parliament in Budapest

Hungarians were denied to enter the facility

120-150 Soviet troops arrived. For them and their families the Hungarian state built barracks, blocks of flats, even kindergartens, grocery stores and a sports ground. Hungarians were allowed to enter those buildings. But they could not go inside the facilities where the warheads were stored.