Russians Conduct Nuclear-Bomb Survival Drills & Publishes Image of Missile that could ‘wipe out Texas’
MOSCOW—Russian
authorities have stepped up nuclear-war survival measures amid a
showdown with Washington, dusting off Soviet-era civil-defense plans and
upgrading bomb shelters in the biggest cities.
At the Kremlin’s Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Cold War is back.
The
country recently held its biggest civil defense drills since the
collapse of the U.S.S.R., with what officials said were 40 million
people rehearsing a response to chemical and nuclear threats.
Videos
of emergency workers deployed in hazmat suits or checking the
ventilation in bomb shelters were prominently aired on television when
the four days of drills were held across the country. Students tried on
gas masks and placed dummies on stretchers in school auditoriums.
The capital’s civil-defense plans are also being upgraded, said Andrey Mishchenko, deputy head of the ministry.
“An
inventory was taken in Moscow of the city’s underground spaces, in
order to allow us to plan for sheltering 100% of the city’s population,”
he said, as reported by state news agency RIA Novosti.
In
parallel, commentators on state-dominated airwaves issued some of the
shrillest anti-American rhetoric in years. “Russia is sick of America’s
arrogant lies,” influential commentator Dmitry Kiselyov said this month
after a Syrian peace plan collapsed.
Xinhua/Zuma Press The underground “Bunker-42” shelter in Moscow, once a Soviet emergency-command post, is now a museum.
After
a mistaken strike by U.S.-led coalition warplanes on Syrian troops in
September, Russia’s Defense Ministry warned that its air defense systems
could shoot down any American plane that threatened its own forces.
And
when a Russian tabloid wrote that government officials had been asked
to take their children back from the prestigious preparatory schools and
universities they attend in Britain, France and the U.S., speculation
swirled about preparation for all-out war with the U.S.
The
rhetoric reinforces Russians’ idea that their country is a superpower
on par with the U.S. It also offers a distraction from an economic
recession and from President Vladimir Putin’s approval ratings, which
have dipped from recent highs. The threat of nuclear war also keeps the
population pliant and uncritical, said Lev Gudkov, head of the Russian
polling group Levada-Center.
“Most
people believe that the Third World War has begun, but right now we are
still in the cold phase of the war, which may or may not turn into a
hot war,” he said. “And during war, you have to support your country’s
authorities.”
Propaganda
attacks in recent months have encouraged public ire toward various
targets of the Kremlin, including Turkey, Ukraine and Russia’s domestic
political opposition.
Russia’s
state media and pro-Kremlin commentators have also begun zeroing in
more energetically on Washington. Ties between the two countries fell to
a low after a joint Russian-U.S. peace plan fell apart in Syria, where
the two countries support opposing sides in a long-running conflict.
President Vladimir Putin last year brought Russia into the fight in
support of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a direct
challenge to the U.S.
“For
Russia the breakdown of diplomacy around Syria is a symbol of the
dysfunction of the world order established by the U.S. after the Cold
War,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, chairman of the Presidium of the Council on
Foreign and Defense Policy, which advises the Kremlin and other
government institutions. “For Americans, it’s that the Russians are just
misbehaving.”
The
Cold War echoes also resound in U.S. politics, as Democratic
presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has sparred publicly with
Republican Donald Trump over Russia policy and cyberattacks that U.S.
officials blame on Moscow.
But
in Russia, the talk of a new Cold War has taken on a life of its own.
Igor Zuyev, whose SIS Proektstroy builds bomb shelters for state
companies and private individuals, said his company has seen a threefold
rise in demand over the past year for structures that he says guarantee
protection from nuclear bombs and military invasion.
“When
the situation started to heat up, particularly after the events of
Crimea, a few months later people went mad, the demand was furious,” Mr.
Zuyev said, referring to Moscow’s annexation of the Black Sea peninsula
in 2014. “Demand has been rising ever since.”
Mr.
Zuyev said a modestly outfitted bunker starts at around 15 million
rubles, or almost $24,000, allowing a family of four to hide comfortably
for up to eight hours.
On
the high end, the sky’s the limit. Proektstroy offers accessories such
as ventilation systems that filter out radioactive waste and satellite
and video monitoring systems that allow those underground to know what
is going on outside.
“People really want total protection—from natural cataclysms, straight up to military operations,” Mr. Zuyev said.
Russia publishes image of ‘Satan 2’, the missile that could ‘wipe out Texas’
Anatoly
Zhdanov | Kommersant Photo | Getty Images. Russia has declassified the
first ever image of its new thermonuclear-armed intercontinental
ballistic missile, the RS-28 Sarmat.
Russia
has declassified the first ever image of its new thermonuclear-armed
intercontinental ballistic missile, the RS-28 Sarmat.
In
May this year Sputnik, a Russian publication aligned with the Kremlin,
claimed the missile could carry a payload capable of wiping a landmass
"the size of Texas or France".
Known
colloquially as "Satan 2" the missile will replace its predecessor, the
RS-36M, dubbed "Satan" by NATO after entering service in the 1970s.
A
statement signed by chief designer V. Degtar and leading designer Y.
Kaverin accompanied the illustration on its release Sunday.
"In
accordance with the Decree of the Russian Government 'On the State
Defense Order for 2010 and the planning period 2012-2013,' the Makeyev
Rocket Design Bureau was instructed to start design and development work
on the Sarmat.
"In
June 2011, the Bureau and the Russian Ministry of Defense signed a
state contract for the Sarmat's development," reads the note on the
bureau's website.
According
to Russian media, the missile's first stage engine PDU-99 was tested in
August, while a hypersonic warhead for the upcoming missile was
reportedly tested back in April.
The Sarmat is expected to enter service in late 2018.