Advertisement

Russia conducts huge nuclear war drills as ‘World War 3’ threat looms

The Kremlin has ramped up measures designed for a nuclear war with the West - upgrading bomb shelters and dusting off Soviet-era civil defence plans.

Earlier this month, Russia held four days of emergency drills - involving 40 million Russians and 200,000 specialist rescue units.

The drills - the biggest since the collapse of the Soviet Union - involved citizens trying on gas masks, while emergency workers in biohazard suits checked how bomb shelters were working.

As the two nations face off in Syria, Vladimir Putin suspended an agreement with the United States for disposal of weapons-grade plutonium because of ‘unfriendly; acts by Washington, the Kremlin said.

Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said last week in an interview with Ria Novosti, ‘I think the world has approached a dangerous threshold. We need to stop. Dialogue should be resumed. Stopping the dialogue has been the biggest mistake.

Ties between Washington and Moscow have deteriorated further in the past month after the collapse of a cease-fire in Syria and intensified bombing on Aleppo by Syrian and Russian aircraft.

American politicians have also suggested that Russia is meddling in the U.S. presidential election next month.