Russians Conduct Nuclear-Bomb Survival Drills as Cold War Heats Up

[خره مينه لګته وي]

Bomb shelters are upgraded, gas masks tested amid strained relations between Putin and U.S.

Cold War-era Soviet Union survival tactics are back in vogue as Russians by the millions participated in emergency drills across the country in early October. The test-runs come amid heightened tensions with the U.S. Photo: AP Photo/Ministry of Emergency Situations press service via AP

By
THOMAS GROVE


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.

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.

Write to Thomas Grove at thomas.grove@wsj.com


wsj

 

[Banglar Bir]

This new Russian 'SUPER NUCLEAR MISSILE' can carry 16 Warheads, can destroy entire Tamil Nadu
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
By: India Today


Russia has unveiled images of their first super-heavy thermonuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missile -- RS-28 Sarmat -- which will come with up to 16 nuclear warheads and has the power to destroy area as large as Tamil Nadu in a single blast.
The Independent reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to replace country's good old array of SS-18 Satan weapons with new generation RS-28 Sarmat super-missiles.

The Sarmat is being developed at the Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau, who also declassified the first few images of the missile on Sunday.
A Ruptly report says that the Sarmat will weigh at least 100 tonnes, feature heavy payload capacity of up to 10 tonnes and might be able to carry either 10 heavy or 16 light nuclear warheads.
The report on Independent also says that Samrat will make the bombs that killed hundreds of thousands of people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II look like 'popguns'.
"The prospective strategic missile system is being developed in order to assuredly and effectively fulfill objectives of nuclear deterrent by Russia's strategic forces," the statement signed by chief designer V Degtar and leading designer Y Kaverin said.


Here is a video about RS-28 Samrat:

 

[Banglar Bir]

Russia is preparing for nuclear war

• Alex Lockie

Russian President Vladimir Putin during naval exercises in Russia’s Arctic North.REUTERS/ITAR-TASS/PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE
Across Russia, 40 million civilians and military personnel just finished up emergency drills aimed at preparing the general population for nuclear or chemical-weapons attacks, The Wall Street Journal's Thomas Grove reports.

Video shows Russian civilians practicing along with officials and workers in hazardous-material protective suits.

But as troubling as the largest civil defense drills since the height of the Cold War have been, the steps Russia has taken to improve its offensive nuclear capabilities likely overshadow them.

Since the breakdown of US-Russia talks on the fate of Syria, Russia has pulled out of a nuclear-nonproliferation agreement with the US, citing "unfriendly acts" by America. It has moved nuclear-capable missiles to its European enclave of Kaliningrad, and threatened"asymmetrical" and "painful" actions against the US should it decide to impose sanctions on Russia over Syria.

Russian Yars RS-24 intercontinental ballistic-missile system during a parade to mark the end of World War II at Red Square in Moscow. Thomson Reuters

Additionally, Russia's state-run media has been ratcheting up anti-American rhetoric.

Lev Gudkov, head of the Russian polling group Levada-Center, told The Journal that in Russia "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."

In Syria and the Ukraine, Russia has turned away from diplomacy and toward military solutions to standoffs with the West. Russia's recent installation of another missile defense battery in Syria gives the US very few options to intervene without risking serious casualties.

Further, Russia designed its nuclear weapons arsenal as absolute doomsday devices that rain up to 10 high-yield nuclear warheads down on targets at Mach 23 in a salvo that the US can't possibly hope to intercept.

Russia Emergency Situations Ministry workers wearing biohazard suits. Ministry of Emergency Situations press service via AP

The US has long relied on the doctrine of "mutually assured destruction" — that is, having a spread-out, autonomous, and effective nuclear arsenal that would return fire should another nuclear power attack — with the intent of deterring any nuclear attacks. But sources told The Journal that Moscow is now taking steps to ensure that 100% of its population would be sheltered from such an attack.

Far from matching Russia's aggressive nuclear posturing, the US has had its attentions elsewhere. The US's long-range bomber aircraft, the most visible deterrent of a nuclear arsenal, have mainly been stationed in the Pacific in response to North Korea's nuclear aggression.

SEE ALSO: Russia to the US: If you want a confrontation, 'you'll get one everywhere'
NOW WATCH: 'America has lost': The Philippines president just announced that he's allying with China, wants to talk to Putin

Putin's greatest warning to the West yet: Russia unveils first image of its Satan 2 super-nuke that is capable of wiping out England and Wales and 2,000 times as powerful as the Hiroshima bomb

• The RS-28 Sarmat missile, dubbed Satan 2, will replace the SS-18
• Flies at 4.3 miles (7km) per sec and with a range of 6,213 miles (10,000km)
• The weapons are perceived as part of an increasingly aggressive Russia
• It could deliver a warhead of 40 megatons - 2,000 times as powerful as the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945

By LIBBY PLUMMER and GARETH DAVIES FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 10:44 GMT, 25 October 2016 | UPDATED: 07:17 GMT, 26 October 20

Russia has unveiled chilling pictures of its largest ever nuclear missile, capable of destroying an area the size of France. A contract for the weapons was signed in 2011, and they are expected to be ready in 2018
The pictures were revealed online by chief designers from the Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau.

A message posted alongside the picture said: '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. '

The RS-28 Sarmat missile is said to contain 16 nuclear warheads and is capable of destroying an area the size of France or Texas, according to Russian news network Zvezda, which is owned by Russia's ministry of defence.

The weapon is also able to evade radar.

It is expected to have a range of 6,213 miles (10,000 km), which would allow Moscow to attack London and other European cities as well as reaching cities on America's west and east coasts.

Igor Sutyagin, an expert in Russian nuclear capability at the Royal United Services Institute in London, told MailOnline: 'The SS-18 is more than 30 years old. It is past its sell-by date.

'So even if you had the warmest relations in the world with Nato you would want to update your missiles.

'But (President) Putin of course is happy for it to be portrayed as an aggressive move. He wants to stress his unpredictability and his importance.'



Each missile contains 16 nuclear warheads, according to pictures revealed online from the Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau. It is also able to evade radar.




+9
Earlier this year, a Yars RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missile system was paraded through Red Square during the Victory Day parade but there was no sign of the RS-28 Sarmat

Dr Sutyagin points out that the SS-18 missiles which the Russians currently rely on were designed in 1988 during the Soviet Union and were built at a factory in Dnipropetrovsk, in what is now the Ukraine.

COULD RUSSIAN LAUNCH NUCLEAR ATTACK FROM SPACE?
Russia is readying itself to become a leader in the construction of hypersonic aircraft, a new report reveals.

Kremlin-backed media claim engineers in the Federation are among the first in the world to work towards new materials for planes capable of reaching hypersonic speeds.

The move could help Russia produce a new fleet of aerial war machines that could launch nuclear attacks from space.

Aviation researchers are reportedly working to develop the materials which can withstand the stress and high temperatures of travelling many times the speed of sound.

He said the Russians cannot totally rely on the Ukraine-based maintenance engineers and he said Sarmat were designed and built by Russians at the Khrunichev plant just outside Moscow.

Dr Sutyagin they would be no match for Nato systems like Aegis Ashore, the controversial missile defence shield which the US is deploying to Romania.



If a Sarmat missile were fired at London it would wipe out most of Britain, as well as northern France, Belgium and the Netherlands

He said: 'Not only are they too fast but they have got rid of the predictable flight path.

'It manouevres all the way so it is terribly difficult for any missile defence system to shoot it down.'

The Russian Defence Ministry plans to put the Sarmat into service in late 2018 and remove the last SS-18 by 2020.

The Sarmat has been in development since 2009 and is scheduled to start replacing the old ICBMs in 2018.

The new missile is said to be undergoing testing near Miass in Russia.


Vladimir Putin pictured at a Victory Day parade earlier this year




A Russian intercontinental ballistic missile RS-20 (SS-18 Satan according to the NATO code) takes off somewhere at undisclosed location in Russia in this June, 2001 photo

Russia test clean pulse-detonation rocket engine

The tests are the latest in a line of policies and incidents carried out by Putin to antagonise the West. Western leaders have been quick to slap him down and accuse him of war-mongering.

A fortnight ago, Hillary Clinton launched an open attack on Russia in a presidential debate, saying Vladimir Putin wants Trump to win and accused the regime of 'war crimes' in Syria.

Clinton went on the offensive during the combative head-to-head showdown, apparently riled after she fell victim to leaks which she attributed to Russian hackers.

In some of her strongest words yet aimed at Russian President Putin, Clinton rebuked the country for its bombing of Aleppo, home to some 250,000 people.

'There is a determined effort by the Russian air force to destroy Aleppo in order to eliminate the last of the Syrian rebels who are really holding out against the Assad regime,' she told the crowd.

'Russia hasn't paid any attention to ISIS. They're interested in keeping Assad in power,' she went on.

'I do support the effort to investigate for crimes - war crimes - committed by the Syrians and the Russians, and try to hold them accountable,' she told the crowd.

She also alleged that Russia wanted to see Trump in power rather than her.

'But I want to emphasize that what is at stake here is the ambitions and the aggressiveness of Russia,' she said.

'Russia has decided that it's all in in Syria, and they've also decided who they want to see become president of the United States too - and it's not me.'

A fortnight ago, Hillary Clinton launched an open attack on Russia in a presidential debate, saying Vladimir Putin wants Trump to win and accused the regime of 'war crimes' in Syria

The FBI said in July that it was looking into the hacking of the Democratic National Committee computer system, after WikiLeaks published nearly 20,000 internal emails on the eve of the party's convention.

At the debate the subject of Russian hacks also came up in a separate voter question about a WikiLeaks document published earlier this month, which showed that Clinton allegedly said in a Wall Street speech that 'you need both a public and a private position on certain issues.'

Clinton went on to blame the leak on Russian meddling, saying: 'We have never, in the history of our country, been in a situation where an adversary, a foreign power, is working so hard to influence the outcome of the election.'

The recent criticism has clearly rubbed Putin up the wrong way, who reacted today by saying: 'If somebody out there wants confrontation this is not our choice but this means that there will be problems,' according to The Mirror.

Last week, the Royal Navy was forced to deploy its vessels as Russian warships chugged through the English Channel on their way to the Mediterranean.

The fleet is heading for Syria could be used to target civilians in the besieged city of Aleppo, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned on Tuesday, calling on Moscow to implement a lasting ceasefire.

NATO is monitoring the movement of the eight-strong carrier battle group from northern Russia towards Gibraltar en route to the eastern Mediterranean, where alliance officials fear it will launch fighter bombers to hit northwestern Syria early in November.

'The battle group may be used to increase Russia's ability to take part in combat operations over Syria and to conduct even more air strikes against Aleppo,' Stoltenberg said.

'The concern is that the carrier group can be used as a platform for increased air strikes against civilians in Aleppo,' he told a news conference, calling for a halt to all bombings.

The naval group, which passed through the English Channel on Friday, is made up of Russia's only aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, as well as a nuclear-powered battle cruiser, two anti-submarine warships and four support vessels, likely escorted by submarines, NATO officials said.

The naval deployment, a rare sight since the end of the Soviet Union, is carrying dozens of fighter bombers and helicopters and is expected to join around 10 other Russian vessels already off the Syrian coast, diplomats said.


Last week, the Royal Navy was forced to deploy its vessels as Russian warships chugged through the English Channel on their way to the Mediterranean




The White House and the Kremlin have been at loggerheads for weeks over the Syrian civil war with the US backing rebel groups attempting to overthrow the government and Putin supporting President Assad.

Both have accused each other of air strikes on aid convoys and civilians.

Though the Russian military said Tuesday the weeklong halt of Russian and Syrian air strikes on the besieged city of Aleppo will continue and humanitarian corridors will remain open even as the Syrian army has unleashed a new offensive on the rebel-held neighborhoods.

As well as a bulging stock of nuclear missiles in Russia itself, Putin is looking to flex his muscles around the world.

Russia is considering reopening military bases in Vietnam and Cuba as Putin looks to assert his army's presence around the world.

Bases in those countries served as pivots of the Soviet global military power during the Cold War.

Now, the Kremlin looks set to plot a return Russian news agencies quoted Russian Deputy Defence Minister Nikolai Pankov.

Egypt too is said to have accepted Russian military bases.