The Sokol Project from Jack Ryan season 3 explained

The third season of ‘Jack Ryan’ centers around ‘The Sokol Project’, which was shut down decades ago. The rumors surrounding its reactivation resurface and threaten the peace between Russia and the United States.

Sokol was founded during the fall of the USSR. The project involved scientists who were attempting to develop a small-yield battlefield nuclear weapon that is invisible to all radars.

Back in 1969, in Matoksa, USSR, a young Luka is ordered to put an end to the Sokol Project. The general of the Red Army talked things out with the scientists involved in the project.

The scientists had identified a simple manufacturing defect and needed six more weeks to get the project back on schedule. Though the general agreed to give them time, he admitted to Luka that the project had become a noose.

The general suggested that the project is too dangerous to be allowed to continue, and therefore, he wanted Luka to take care of it.

Once the general left, Luka disclosed to his team that Sokol is over. The general has given them orders to shut it down.

The repercussions of the assassination

The soldiers of the Red Army followed the general’s orders and killed off each and every scientist present there at Matoksa. The soldiers did their duty, but many of them weren’t happy with the decision, especially Petr Lebedev.

Petr was quite outspoken about this, and he believed that this was their chance to bring their country to its glory. Petr confronted his senior, and for that, he got shot and kicked out of the army.

The Sokol Project from Jack Ryan season 3 explained 1
Luca orders his soldiers to shut down the Sokol Project

Petr managed to survive and planned to resurrect the Sokol Project one day. Years later, he succeeded in doing so by bringing some men on his side and by manipulating his own daughter, Alena Kovac, who became the President of the Czech Republic.

He even later went on to orchestrate the assassination of Dmitry Popov, the Russian Defense Minister, in order to have Alexei Petrov, who was working with him, take over.

The main motive behind the new Sokol Project

Levan Zubkov was supplying uranium to Petrov and Petr so that they can build a nuclear warhead at Matoksa. The same warhead is sent inside a NATO convoy to the small town of Nymburk

The original plan was to have it detonate in Nymburk to make it all look like an accident. This way, Russia could blame America. Jack Ryan manages to stop the nuclear warhead from reaching the town by having it detonate inside a tunnel.

Petr, before being killed by Luca, claimed that all he wanted was the explosion. The motive was to give Russia a reason to wage war on America.

With Alexei in charge, Russia would definitely move toward the United States with its nukes, and Petr’s mission would become a success.

Toward the end of season 3, Luca confronts Alexei and gets him to confess that he was part of the assassination of Popov. The recording reaches President Surikov. He then wastes no time in ordering the assassination of Alexei.

Following that, even Jack and Luca manage to stop the warships of the United States and Russia from going up against each other.


Also Read: Jack Ryan season 3 review: Long, exhausting, and dull

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