BOTH Cardiff and Swansea have been named on a hit list of Russia’s nuclear targets in the UK.
Cold War predictions drawn up in secret by the British government reveal the extent of a Russian nuclear strike on the UK.
At the height of nuclear tensions in the 1970s and 80s, at least 38 towns and cities were feared to be at risk from a strike from the Soviet Union – and Cardiff, Swansea were among the key targets due to being centres of population.
Dozens of army, navy and air force bases were also earmarked for destruction, including RAF Brawdy in Pembrokeshire, which was slated as being a refuelling point for allied nuclear bombers.
Brecon was also targeted as it was a government centre of control in the event of a nuclear war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously made no secret of the fact he is willing to use military force and relations between the UK and Russia have reached new lows over the poisoning of Sergei Skripal as fears of a new Cold War grow.
UK defence officials drew up a list of 106 locations they believed were a target for Russia – marking them as ‘probable nuclear targets.’
The full list of UK towns and cities listed was: Central London, Cheltenham, Edinburgh, Nottingham, Teesside, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Leicester, Stoke-on-Trent, Belfast, Huddersfield, Sunderland, Gillingham, Rochester, Chatham, Maidstone, Glasgow, Birmingham, Liverpool, Cardiff, Manchester, Southampton, Leeds, Newcastle/Gateshead, Bristol, Sheffield, Swansea, Hull, Catterick, York, Preston, Cambridge, Dover, Reading, Salcombe, Brecon, Kidderminster and Armagh.
Alongside these major population centres were 23 RAF bases, 14 USAF bases, 10 radar stations, 8 military command centres, and 13 Royal Navy bases.
It is not known if the list of probable targets has changed since the Cold War. Even though RAF Brawdy has closed as a bomber refuelling base, Pembrokeshire could still be targeted due to it being home to an important energy port, Milford Haven. There are two major LNG plants, an oil refinery and an oil terminal in operation. The port is responsible for the import of a third of the UK’s energy.
Famously, 1984 television drama Threads showed the attack and aftermath of nuclear war following a nuclear bomb blitz on Sheffield.
