Two explosions detected by western authorities hit the Kola Peninsula, the Arctic Circle region home to the Severomorsk bases that house major Russian military infrastructure

Mysterious explosion in Russian Arctic hits near Putin’s secret naval base

Mystery explosions have rocked a secretive Russian military base in the Arctic Circle known to house major army pieces for Putin.

A surveillance video capturing the peaceful surrounds of the Kola Peninsula shows the moment orange flames erupt into the skies, prompting rumours and speculation about a possible attack. The explosions, captured from a distance by cameras stationed at what appears to be a snow-covered car park, have not been directly addressed by officials.

They emanated from a location nearby the Severomorsk naval airbase, which is used by Russia’s armed forces to store weapons, with several major military units also stored at the site. Among the vehicles reportedly kept on site are Russian fighter jets, bombers and maritime surveillance planes.

Locals told how they felt the tremors and “terrible” shaking. One resident speaking to The Barents Observer said: “There were two explosions. I live on Starostina Street, on the 8th floor. The house was shaking. It was terrible.”

Another observer said they saw “bright plasmoids” light up the sky at around 2.15pm, with “bright white light” lasting for around 30 seconds at a time and moving to the ground. They said: “At about 14.45 in a clear sky appeared three bright plasmoids, bright white light with a periodicity of 30 seconds, which smoothly descending moved to the ground, in the area south-east of Severomorsk-3.”

The incident could have been due to an ill-fated missile experiment, with one similar incident having happened in the area previously. Another potential explanation offered was that officials at the base were disposing of substandard ammunition, a common military practice.

But doing so wouldn’t usually cause such a violent reaction, and military chiefs would likely have been keen to prevent the explosions from being detected by foreign instruments. Tormod Kværna, Scientific Adviser on Seismology and Test Ban Monitoring with NORSAR, the US-Norwegian agency responsible for monitoring seismic activity and possible nuclear attacks, said his station recorded a signal that may have indicated a major explosion.

Mr Kværna, who was based in the northern Norwegian Finnmark region at the time, said they received an “infrasound signal” at around 3.43pm in Norway. He said: “We have a infrasound signal, that could be some kind of huge explosion, recorded at our station in Karasjok at 15.43 Norwegian time.”

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