Zephyr Net

- Secret CIA Docs: Yugoslavia Had Uranium to Build Nuke by 1980, Had Help From US -



A secret study commissioned by the CIA in December 1975 concluded that Yugoslavia had the technical capabilities and the necessary uranium supply to build its own nuclear weapon, and that it could have attained such a weapon by 1980. Professor Filip Kovacevic, who acquainted himself with the documents, shared his findings with Sputnik.

Kovacevic, a visiting lecturer at the University of San Francisco, came across the bombshell of a revelation last month after contacting the CIA with a request for documents relating to the Yugoslav nuclear program a year earlier. The professor received 8 documents totaling 84 pages and covering a thirty year period from 1957 to 1986. The documents, presented in a variety of formats, from short reports to scientific studies, were all labeled classified. Some included redactions, and the CIA told the academic in a letter accompanying the files that some papers on the subject remain classified.

Speaking to Sputnik Serbia, Kovacevic said that the secret papers show that the Yugoslavs began flirting with the idea of their own nuclear program soon after WWII. "The documents show that immediately after World War II, Yugoslavia started cooperating with the US on the development of a nuclear program, for example, by sending students to study the relevant disciplines at American universities," the academic explained.

The secret papers also enabled Kovacevic to learn that in 1952, in cooperation with researchers from the Geological Society of America and with the help of geological surveys across Yugoslavia, two rich sources of uranium were discovered in the republics of Slovenia and Macedonia. "One of the documents, dated July 1979, revealed that the deposit in Slovenia alone could produce 300,000 tons of uranium a year, enough to make about 300 tons of uranium oxide," (i.e. nuclear fuel), the professor noted.


Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, where Yugoslavia made progress toward achieving the technical capability to create a domestic nuclear weapon.


According to Kovacevic, the CIA documents demonstrate that US intelligence was well aware of Yugoslavia's efforts in the nuclear sphere, thanks to a well-organized network of informants across the country's institutions.

At the same time, Washington remained unable to control the senior Yugoslav leadership's decision-making, the scholar said. "The documents show that Yugoslavia's leadership under Josip Broz Tito cooperated with the West and the East only to the extent that it was in Belgrade's interests."

For example, "when the Americans refused to give Yugoslavia [something it needed], Belgrade turned to the Russians, and vice versa. When the US hesitated to sell Belgrade an experimental reactor, the Yugoslavs immediately bought one from the USSR. Then, in the 1970s, Belgrade signed an agreement with the US company Westinghouse to build Yugoslavia's first and only nuclear power plant at Krsko, Slovenia. Soviet firms were also interested doing so. It was a difficult game which the Yugoslav leadership played to perfection while Tito was alive," Kovacevic noted.

The CIA documents also revealed that Yugoslavia made serious strides over the twenty year period between the mid-1950s and the mid-1970s toward joining the nuclear club. Whereas a 1958 analysis concluded that Yugoslavia did not have the potential to produce its own nuclear weapon, a 1975 study found that the potential exists, and was on the brink of being realized.

The paper, dated from December 1975 and titled 'Prospects for Further Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons', concluded that Belgrade would be able build its own atomic bomb before 1980 if it sought to do so.

"This secret research paper said that Yugoslavia had enough resources and capabilities to do so," Kovacevic said. "It also pointed out that Yugoslavia would need additional investments in a uranium processing plant, and of course, in the creation of a carrier weapon for the bomb."

"In other words, Yugoslavia could have created an atomic bomb; everything depended on the political will of the leadership; there, [by the late 1970s,] Tito no longer played a dominant role, due to his ill health. And some members of the leadership apparently already began to see their future outside Yugoslavia in their individual republics. Personally, I believe that the existence of a Yugoslav nuclear bomb could have saved the country from its bloody and brutal collapse," Kovacevic concluded.

From : https://sputniknews.com/military/201711 ... bomb-1980/

- Tito's Secret Undeground Nuclear Bunker Revealed -
It took 30 years to build a secret Cold War nuclear bunker for Josip Broz Tito, the first President of Yugoslavia. One year after the construction was finally completed, the founder of Titoism died. The bunker is now open to the public as a museum and a space for modern art exhibitions.



The construction of the bunker, which "even Eisenhower did not have", started in 1949, after Tito’s break-up with Stalin.

Above: A tunnel with electric switches are seen in Josip Broz Tito's underground secret bunker (ARK) in Konjic.


Communist Yugoslavia’s strongman ordered the building of the bunker to protect the country’s elite from a nuclear strike. The existence of the shelter which could withstand a nuclear attack was known only to four generals and the group of soldiers guarding it.

Above: A room with a television is seen in Josip Broz Tito's underground secret bunker (ARK) in Konjic.



The building of the bunker cost Yugoslavia $4.5 billion.

Above: The office of Josip Broz Tito's Secretary is seen in Tito's underground secret bunker (ARK) in Konjic.



The atomic shelter is located 280 meters underground in the Velebit mountain range in Croatia, near the city of Paklenica.

Above: A fax office is seen in Josip Broz Tito's underground secret bunker (ARK) in Konjic.



The complex was designed to allow 200 people to live for two years without any support from the outer world.

Above: A meeting hall is seen in Josip Broz Tito's underground secret bunker (ARK) in Konjic.



The bunker comprises of 12 areas, connected with each other, and spans 6,500 square meters.

Above: Phones are seen in Josip Broz Tito's underground secret bunker (ARK) in Konjic.


The bunker was equipped with diesel-generators, a stockpile of food, water and medicines. The shelter also had its own air conditioning system.

Above: Water switches are seen in Josip Broz Tito's underground secret bunker (ARK) in Konjic.



The shelter was designed with 100 bedrooms and the "presidential bloc" containing private quarters built just for Tito with a king-size bed and an en-suite bathroom.

Above: Josip Broz Tito's private toilet is seen in his underground secret bunker (ARK) in Konjic.


After the breakup of Yugoslavia occurred, the bunker was not guarded for a while. In 1994, NATO forces took control of the complex.

Above: Damaged chairs are seen in Josip Broz Tito's underground secret bunker (ARK) in Konjic.


On May 27 2011, the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina handed the bunker over to local artists as a picture gallery.

Above: A member of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina walks through a tunnel in Josip Broz Tito's underground secret bunker (ARK) in Konjic.