Norwegian monitoring stations have detected heightened radiation levels at two stations earlier this month as Russian officials pushed for Putin to conduct new nuclear tests
Vladimir Putin is “fully ready” to use a nuclear bomb in the Arctic and take Russia down a path it has not trodden since the Cold War, the Kremlin has said.
The Russian despot, 71, has recently stepped up his rhetoric as NATO members weigh whether to send long-range ballistic missiles to Ukraine. He warned earlier this week that members of the organisation risk “war” if they send the country munitions capable of firing on targets inside Russia.
Putin is now under pressure to carry out a display of strength and detonate a nuclear warhead at a Russian testing facility stationed in the Arctic. Officials have suggested that the facility is ready to start conducting tests at any given moment, a move that would restart Cold War-era aggressions.
The Sun reports that Russian officials have said tests can immediately go ahead at the Arctic facility, an old Soviet site in the Novaya Zemlya archipelago first used 70 years ago. Rear-Admiral Andrei Sinitsyn, the site director, said in a statement that it is prepared to “begin testing at any moment”.
He said: “The test site is ready to resume full-scale testing activities. It is fully ready. The laboratory and testing facilities are ready. The personnel are ready. If the order is given, we will begin testing at any moment.” Sinitsyn added that western nations have stepped up their monitoring of Russia, claiming they were concerned over possible nuclear tests.
He claimed: “Foreign technical intelligence is monitoring our activities on Novaya Zemlya.” Other Russian officials, namely former space agency chief Dmitry Rogozin, have demanded that the country’s government recommence Cold War testing at the Novaya Zemlya facility.
High-ranking officials made the demands after radiation levels spiked in Viksjøfjell and Svanhovd, two Norwegian radiation stations, the Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (DSA) said. The stations monitored “higher than normal” levels in the areas, and found radioactive Cesium-137, an isotope produced by nuclear fission, appeared between September 5 and 16.
While concerning on the surface, Bredo Møller, a member of the DSA’s Emergency Preparedness unit at Svanhovd, said the levels are of “no risk to humans”. He said: “The levels are clearly higher than normal, but pose no risk to humans or the environment. We have detected 5 µBq/m3 at the filter station at Svanhovd for week 37 (September 9 to 16) and we have measured the same concentration (5 µBq/m3) at the filter station at Viksjøfjell week 36/37 (September 5 to 12).”
Mr Møller said the DSA will carry out tests over the coming days, and that the organisation would not be surprised if the levels remain heightened. He said: “We will not be surprised if these are also at the same level as what we have seen today.”
