> According to their story, the Il-80 was undergoing maintenance when “unknown persons opened the cargo hatch” and stole what is described as “radio equipment.”

> from his suite onboard the president is able to order the launch of intercontinental ballistic missiles, from land or sea, or make other critical warfighting decisions.

This feels like the start of a cliche action movie.

Not sure if this is true, but I heard from a reputable source that many Russian government workers are fully inebriated during the month of December. If this is the case, which I believe, it definitely could account for lapses in security on this base. However, and I do know this first hand, that plane is a big pile of crap! A general might fly on that plane during a wartime event, but Putin wouldnt be caught dead on that plane.