Question: "Okay, so what is the point of faking it all?"
Answer: Nuclear bomb propaganda facilitates imperial aggression and police control. This was its true use by Russia and america throughout the cold war, against Iraq, Iran, North Korea, and others in the future.
Even if it means a number of clashes that results in needless deaths and giving political chips to rogue nations with nuclear capabilities? Perhaps you can explain to me why the infamous "Raid on the Reactor" incident of 1981 occured, when such an action could very well have lead to a new war in the Middle East? Or was that the result of a massive mis-information campaign headed by the US to gain fouther control... for no real reason?
Indeed, you're suggesting that the Cold War powers both agreed, whether by actual exchange or unspoken agreement, to continue a conspiracy in relation to the greastest weapons of history for over sixty years. Spare me the logic of such a tin-foil hat thought process. Can we agree that both Russia and the US were enemies? If the answer is yes, we can continue; if no, there is no helping you.
Russia was in a prime position in the early days of WW2 to know everything about the Manhattan Project thanks to its network of spies (evidenced by their ability to gain a nuclear weapon so quickly) . If the program was a fake, they would have known all about it. Now comes a choice.
A) Expose nuclear weapons as a hoax; destorying the concept of deterrence by NATO (opening the way for the massive armies of Russia to invade the West), humiliating the US & Japan (one their newest enemy, the latter a foe that they have faced off several times since the 1800s), and give a major political and social victory to the Soviet Union.
B) Join in the charade so as to gain a reason to deal with states they don't like and galavinze their citizentry into loyality in the face of annihilation.
Option A gives the Soviet Union a good boast to their ego by showing the faults of the West and removes the need to play a dangerous political game of brinkmenship with the US for fifty years over something that is not real. Not to mention supporting, building, and maintains huge facilities, bunkers, and submarine fleets to continue the conspiracy. All of which costs billions of dollars, per year. Indeed, it allows them to wage outright war against the West thanks to their superior numbers and lack of deterrance by the ultimate weapon.All-in-all, this option both helps the SU, removes the need to play a needless game of Russian Roulette on the political map, and removes a reason why the SU can't invade the West - further raising fears in the West.
Option B is just stupid. The Russians had little need for a reason to invade countries or even justify their actions to their people. All they would need to do is claim that it was for the safety of Russia that such-and-such nation was invaded or even the main objective of Communism - to free the working class from their capitalist masters. They had no need for an additional need to invade a country when they didn't give a damn with what the West thought of them and their own citizentry were brainwashed and controled to the point they could invade any country they wanted and spin it to make themselves look like liberators. Then, factor in that the modern world is full of nations working to or has obtained nuclear arms, forcing the traditonal powers of the world to go to a negotiating table and bargin with them. If nuclear arms were fake.... why give rouge nations a single political chip when the chip is symbolized by something you know is fake?
Furthermore, the entire Soviet Union mindset and Communism in general was the spreading of their teachings around the world until only Communism was left. Nuclear arms only served to hem them in terms of board attacks against the Western powers and regulated the majority of the Cold War to proxy wars and spy actions. However, if these same arms were indeed fake, this basically frees up the Soviet Union to expand aggressively through invasion by superior numbers into Western Europe - free of the threat caused by Nuclear weapons. Why continue the charade then?
So, in conclusion, the reason why Russia would join the conspiracy is simply unrealistic and results in no real gains. For the cost of several trillion dollars, several incidents in the Cold War that could had lead to war over "fake weapons," the rise of rogue nations with nuclear weapons and their possession of a bargaining chip (that is fake), the set-up and long term support of a "nuclear fleet" of submarines, the building of fake reactors, the staging of the Chernobyl Disastor (I would like to see a reason as to how it would be beneficial for the SU to do this to itself.... I really would.), the staging of numerous other nuclear disastors, the building of bunkers around the SU, a reason to not engage in open hostile action against the West (which is what they wanted to do), etc. - You get a reason to more tightly control your populace....... in a country that already assigns you a job from childhood, gives you your home, gives you your car, and basically runs the majority of your life for you.
Simply brillant these conspiracy theories.