Putin was filmed in China accompanied by officers with Russian nuclear briefcases.

On Wednesday, rare footage of Russian President Vladimir Putin visiting Beijing with police carrying the so-called nuclear briefcase, which may be used to launch a nuclear attack, was aired.

Two uniformed Russian navy personnel carrying a briefcase followed Putin as he left a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing and made his way to another one. One of the briefcases is the focus of the camera’s zoom.

A navy officer often carries Russia’s nuclear briefcase. The president always carries the briefcase, often called the “Cheget” (after Mount Cheget in the Caucasus Mountains), but it is rarely captured on camera.

In a message on Telegram accompanying the video, the Kremlin reporters of the official news agency RIA stated, “There are some suitcases without which no trip of Putin’s is complete.”

Another video shows Putin leaving a conference in Beijing, this time being shot just a few steps away from the naval officers. Putin is seen grinning as he descends some stairs.

The “nuclear football” is a similar instrument that the American president also has. Should the president not be in the White House, the codes needed to validate an order to fire nuclear weapons are kept in the president’s satchel.

The conflict in Ukraine has heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington to their highest point since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962; at the same time, China is trying to increase the size of its nuclear weapons to better fit its role as a rising superpower.

Russia’s parliament revoked the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty on Tuesday, and its senior legislator warned Washington that Moscow may even completely withdraw from the agreement.

The president may communicate securely with his military’s top brass and rocket forces via the ultra-secret “Kazbek” electronic command-and-control network using the briefcase. Another system known as “Kavkaz” is supported by Kazbek.

Additionally, the nuclear suitcase belongs to the current Russian minister of defense, Sergei Shoigu. It’s possible that the head of the general staff, Valery Gerasimov, has one as well.

Footage from the Zvezda television network in Russia from 2019 shows one of the briefcases with various buttons.

There are two buttons in the “command” section: a red “cancel” button and a white “launch” button. According to Zvezda, a unique flashcard activates the briefcase.

The Yeltsin Museum in Yekaterinburg has one of the nuclear briefcases that the late Russian President Boris Yeltsin utilized.

On his second documented travel outside the former Soviet Union since the Ukraine War started in February 2022, Putin is currently in Beijing.