Russia is ready to conduct nuclear tests in the Arctic, according to a senior military official as Vladimir Putin pushes on with more drills.
Rear Admiral Andrei Sinitsyn, director of a former Soviet test site in the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, said the facilities are prepared for immediate use if ordered.
Speaking to the state-owned Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Sinitsyn said: “The test site is ready to resume full-scale testing activities… The laboratory and testing facilities are ready. The personnel are ready.”
This announcement comes amid heightened tensions between Russia and the West, with Moscow signalling its nuclear capabilities as a deterrent.
Russia is ready to conduct nuclear tests in the Arctic, according to a senior military official as Vladimir Putin pushes on with more drillsReuters
Sinitsyn claimed that foreign intelligence agencies were monitoring the site, which he interpreted as “likely sign of a concern over nuclear tests”.
The Novaya Zemlya test site, according to Sinitsyn, is prepared for various scenarios.
He said: “We are constantly ready to repel all types of threats, including the penetration of sabotage and reconnaissance groups onto the island.”
Sinitsyn emphasised that the ‘Central Test Site of the Russian Federation’ would be used for “conducting and providing non-nuclear explosive experiments” in “the interests of state security”.
When pressed on nuclear testing readiness, he aded: “The testing ground is ready to resume full-scale testing activities. Ready in full.”
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The site has not been used for nuclear tests since October 1990, following the Soviet Union’s decision to halt such activities.
However, Sinitsyn’s comments suggest that if Vladimir Putin were to give the order, testing could resume promptly.
Recent satellite imagery has revealed an increase in construction activities at the Novaya Zemlya test site.
The Middlebury Institute for International Studies obtained images showing significant expansion of the remote island location between July 2021 and June 2023.
The imagery captured large trucks, construction cranes, shipping containers, and building supplies being brought to the settlement.
Sinitsyn confirmed the site’s ongoing development, explaining that priorities include maintaining a “laboratory” and “experimental base”, both of which are “ready”.
He added: “The testing ground has the appropriate staff, weapons, equipment, that is, everything that is necessary for our activities.”
Recent statements from Russian officials have called for the resumption of nuclear testing.
MP Andrei Kolesnik, representing the ruling United Russia party, demanded: “We need to carry out a nuclear explosion somewhere, at some testing ground.”
The announcement comes amid heightened tensions between Russia and the West, with Moscow signalling its nuclear capabilities as a deterrent
Reuters
Kolesnik suggested that such a display might make “humanity think twice”.
Russia has intensified its nuclear preparedness. The military recently conducted drills involving Yars missile launchers in Ivanovo region. These exercises included deploying units, changing field positions, and camouflaging.
The defence ministry reported that the Yars missiles, capable of striking the US, are “carrying out marches to a distance of up to 100 kilometres”.
Additionally, Russian troops practised installing dummy warheads onto launchers in August, in what appeared to be a deliberate show of force to the West.