[baybal2]

> “Until then, Ukraine had the world's third-largest nuclear weapons stockpile, of which Ukraine had physical, but not operational, control. Russia alone controlled the codes needed to operate. Their use was dependent on Russian-controlled electronic Permissive Action Links and the Russian command and control system”

I don't know where they got it, the book author cited in Wiki. The man cited read too much Tom Clancy I guess.

USSR nuclear weapons had no permissive action links as such

Kazakhstan's, and Ukrainian's nukes were fully operational, sans confused nuclear weapons officer command chain.

The launch codes were employed, but they were used solely for checking the authenticity of launch, and targetting commands.