Russia will today hold nationwide drills simulating the evacuation of civilians during a nuclear war, according to reports, Report informs via The Telegraph.
The exercises on Tuesday will test rescue workers’ readiness to remove large numbers of people from hypothetical “radiation zones”, leaked documents published by Russian media outlet Baza show.
It is unclear how many civilians, if any, will be involved.
Russia holds civil defence drills annually, but this is thought to be the first time the exercises will be held simultaneously across the country.
They come after the head of Russia’s leading nuclear energy research centre reportedly urged the Kremlin last week to stage an atomic weapons test in the Arctic Ocean as a show of force.
Both the United States and Russia - by far the world’s largest nuclear powers - have said that a nuclear war can never be won and must never be fought, but the conflict in Ukraine has raised fears of a direct confrontation between Moscow and the West.