Thieves Loot Radios From Top-Secret Russian Doomsday Plane

  • Police investigating theft from Il-80 airborne command center
  • Putin’s spokesman says measures to be taken to prevent repeat

The Il-80 plane has no windows save in the cockpit to protect against nuclear electromagnetic pulses.

Photographer: Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP/Getty Images

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Police in Russia’s southern Rostov region have opened an investigation into the theft of equipment from a top-secret plane intended for use as an airborne command center in the event of nuclear war.

The investigation was ordered after equipment worth more than 1 million rubles ($13,600) was stolen from the Il-80 aircraft at a base in Taganrog, local police said in a statement Wednesday.