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Watch: Intercontinental ballistic missile gets stuck in Moscow traffic, armored vehicles cause a pileup in Kursk

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As years worth of dash-cam footage uploaded to YouTube has shown, Russian roadways are often the scene of some pretty unusual things. From weaponized road rage to low-flying military aircraft, having a camera handy in the former Soviet Union is seen by many as a requisite for day-to-day travel, due in large part to rampant corruption throughout Russian law enforcement and local governments.

With so much crazy footage finding its way out of Russian roads, it takes something incredibly unusual to get the internet’s interest these days. Something like…a massive nuclear weapon getting stuck in traffic outside the Russian capital, for instance.

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As years worth of dash-cam footage uploaded to YouTube has shown, Russian roadways are often the scene of some pretty unusual things. From weaponized road rage to low-flying military aircraft, having a camera handy in the former Soviet Union is seen by many as a requisite for day-to-day travel, due in large part to rampant corruption throughout Russian law enforcement and local governments.

With so much crazy footage finding its way out of Russian roads, it takes something incredibly unusual to get the internet’s interest these days. Something like…a massive nuclear weapon getting stuck in traffic outside the Russian capital, for instance.

Of course, it’s possible that there isn’t a nuclear weapon stored inside that erector-launcher intended for Russia’s RS-24 nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile, but it’s just as possible there is. Such is the nature of Russian roads.

The day after images began to surface of Moscow’s nuke-laden traffic, another incident–this time in Kursk–hit the web by way of Twitter. These posts, first published by Tyler Rogoway at The War Zone, show dash-cam footage of a Russian soldier aboard a BTR-80 armored vehicle apparently telling the civilian car behind him to back up. When the civilian vehicle doesn’t oblige, the BTR-80 simply backs straight into the vehicle, crushing the hood and doing significant damage to the front end.

Then, in the aftermath, you can see a number of vehicles crashed into one another behind that first BTR-80, with yet another armored Russian vehicle crashed into the back of the traffic jam.

As insane and nonsensical as all of this may appear, it’s not entirely out of the ordinary for Russia. Back in 2017, footage hit the internet of a Russian BMD-4 personnel carrier fishtailing in traffic and punting a civilian vehicle out of its way.

And this video shows an armored personnel carrier that was stolen from a private training facility near Russia’s border with Finland. That vehicle wasn’t involved in an accidental incident at all, but rather the thief used it to drive through the wall of a convenience store so he could steal a cheap bottle of wine.

About Alex Hollings View All Posts

Alex Hollings writes on a breadth of subjects with an emphasis on defense technology, foreign policy, and information warfare. He holds a master's degree in communications from Southern New Hampshire University, as well as a bachelor's degree in Corporate and Organizational Communications from Framingham State University.

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