Russia has launched round-the-clock surveillance to detect nuclear explosions at a newly opened facility, the Interfax news agency reported on Monday, citing the Defense Ministry.
“From July 1, 2022, to strengthen the defense capability of our state, round-the-clock duty in the shift of the Main Center for Geophysical Surveillance started,” Interfax quoted the ministry as saying.
Interfax reported that the centre, which opened on June 1, has been tasked with identifying man-made “geophysical disturbances” as well as the sources of nuclear explosions.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, relations between Moscow and the West have become increasingly tense, with politicians in both Russia and the United States speaking publicly about the risk of nuclear war.
President Vladimir Putin said in February that he was putting the country’s nuclear forces on high alert, citing aggressive statements by NATO leaders and economic sanctions against Moscow.
Russia’s official military deployment doctrine allows the use of nuclear weapons if they – or other types of weapons of mass destruction – are used against it, or if the state faces an existential threat.