Russian nuclear test site ‘ready’ – commander
Russia’s Novaya Zemlya range in the Arctic is ready to resume nuclear testing at any moment, the commander of the facility, Rear Admiral Andrey Sinitsyn, has said.
The Novaya Zemlya site, which is located on the island of the same name in the Arctic Ocean, was once one of the Soviet Union’s main nuclear testing range. Russia last carried out a detonation there in 1990 but since then has upheld a moratorium on nuclear testing.
Despite the range not being used for its intended purpose for 34 years, its infrastructure has been maintained and it remains “ready to resume full-scale testing activities,” Sinitsyn told Rossiyskaya Gazeta on Tuesday.
"It is fully ready. The laboratory and testing base are ready. The personnel are ready. If we get the order, we can begin testing at any time,” he said.
If the contingent at Novaya Zemlya is told to resume nuclear testing, this task “will be fulfilled in accordance with the deadline,” the commander added.
The site might be located far from the front line between Russia and Ukraine and is out of reach of the most advanced missiles supplied to Kiev by its Western backers, but it still has a “comprehensive security system” that will allow it to repel any possible attacks, Sinitsyn stressed.
"We have air surveillance posts and mobile UAV suppression groups on duty every day. Various electronic warfare systems are used to protect the facilities. We are constantly ready to repel all types of threats, including attempted incursions by sabotage and reconnaissance groups onto the island,” he said.
Last week, an MP from the ruling United Russia party, Andrey Kolesnik, suggested that a move by Moscow to lift the moratorium on nuclear testing could serve as a wake-up call for Western politicians, who have forgotten about the danger posed by such weapons and continue to escalate tensions with Russia.
"We need to carry out a nuclear explosion somewhere, at some testing ground. Nuclear tests are currently banned, but maybe people should see what all this actually leads to,” Kolesnik explained.
In March, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the US is considering the possibility of resuming nuclear tests as some experts believe that computer simulations are insufficient for new types of warheads. If the Americans do so, Russia might reply by performing nuclear tests of its own, he warned.
