In the early hours of a frigid February morning in 1992, the former Soviet Union’s Uzinskaya strategic nuclear bomber base committed a previously unthinkable act. Despite a deal to keep the recently dead USSR’s orphaned nuclear weapons under Russia’s operational control, a regiment of tanker pilots had mutinied against Moscow and declared loyalty to Ukraine, refusing an order to fly their planes to Russia without Kyiv’s knowledge.
After hydroplaning twice on melted snow and blowing a tire on the two-hour drive from Kyiv to the town of Uzin, our group of Western journalists hoped at most to collect quotes at the entrance of the rebellious base. But instead of watchtowers, dogs, and other menacing defenses, only one lone and very young recruit was guarding the gate. For some reason, he let us in.
