Washington 22 Aug (ANA) - US intelligence personnel have made stark claims that the country has been building command bunkers over a number of years. Dozens of the below-ground dugouts are being constructed in the capital Moscow, and around the vast country. Led by president Vladimir Putin, the country has been beefing up its nuclear arsenal, including building new missiles, submarines and bombers in recent months. Russia's new national security strategy has been viewed with caution by many countries, as it includes increasing civil defences against nuclear attack, an indication it is preparing for nuclear war. Unveiled in December, the new direction was followed by another announcement in January by the Defence Ministry, outlining a new and improved command and control system was being delivered this year. Army General Curtis Scaparrotti, commander of U.S. European Command, called Russia adopting the nuclear use doctrine "alarming". He said: "It is clear that Russia is modernizing its strategic forces. “Russian doctrine states that tactical nuclear weapons may be used in a conventional response scenario. This is alarming and it underscores why our country’s nuclear forces and NATO’s continues to be a vital component of our deterrence.” A US State Department report in the spring, under the START arms treaty, found Moscow had added 153 nuclear warheads to its stockpile. 

Mark Schneider, a former Pentagon nuclear policy official, said: “Russia is getting ready for a big war which they assume will go nuclear, with them launching the first attacks. “We are not serious about preparing for a big war, much less a nuclear war. “A lot of things they say they are doing relate to nuclear threats and nuclear warfighting." “Active and passive defence were a major Soviet priority and [current Russian leaders] are Soviets in everything but name.” Some of the weapons arsenal includes a drone submarine, code named 'kanyon', and SS-27 Mod 2 intercontinental ballistic missiles with multiple warheads and SS-N-32 submarine-launched missiles. Alongside this Moscow is pushing through plans to add a hypersonic strike vehicle, designed to deliver nuclear warheads via an advanced missile defence system, to its weaponry. A report by the National Institute for Public Policy into Russia's expansion concluded that the country may be purposefully trying to instil fear into the rest of the world. It said: "Russian leaders appear to view nuclear weapons as the ultimate way to make the world ‘fear,’ or at least respect Russia, and provide a political lever to intimidate, coerce, and deter Western states from attempting to interfere militarily against Russian expansionism." In response, the US is developing bombs capable of penetrating the subterranean bunker. The underground complexes are similar to those built during and after the Cold War, and previous feats of engineering include an underground subway system linking the house of then-president Boris Yeltsin to a command centre.  A "nuclear survivable" shelter was also built in the 1990s deep into the Yamantau Mountain, roughly 850 miles east of Moscow, with development above ground at various supporting sites.(ANA)

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