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. It is responsible for the safe-keeping, technical maintenance, transportation, delivery, issuance, disposal, etc. of the nuclear arsenal of the state, as well as the testing of nuclear charges, which includes ensuring ecological safety of such tests and the maintenance of Soviet/Russian testing grounds, known in Russian as "polygons" – in Semipalatinsk (Semipalatinsk Test Site, now Kazakhstan) and on Novaya Zemlya Archipelago.

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. It is responsible for the safe-keeping, technical maintenance, transportation, delivery, issuance, disposal, etc. of the nuclear arsenal of the state, as well as the testing of nuclear charges, which includes ensuring ecological safety of such tests and the maintenance of Soviet/Russian testing grounds, known in Russian as "polygons" – in Semipalatinsk (Semipalatinsk Test Site, now Kazakhstan) and on Novaya Zemlya Archipelago.