Russia has spent the last year modernizing thousands of Soviet-era bomb shelters, a report says, a sign Putin fears an attack on his home soil

People walk through a passageway in an underground bunker in Moscow, Russia, June 2007. NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/AFP via Getty Images

• Russia has spent the last year modernizing old Soviet-era bomb shelters, the Moscow Times reported.

• Shelters that have not been used for decades are now being made operational, according to the report.

• Putin says Ukraine could attack Russia and has put the country on nuclear alert.

Russia has repaired and modernized thousands of Soviet-era bomb shelters over the past year since invading Ukraine, current and former officials told The Moscow Times.

The Kremlin ordered inspections and repairs of bomb shelters across the country in February 2022, the same month Russia launched its invasion, with work still ongoing, a current Russian official told the outlet.

“The government made a decision in the spring to inspect the network of bomb shelters,” the official said, adding that the order came from ministries such as the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Ministry of Defence.

Other current and former officials confirmed the work to The Moscow Times, which also looked at government tenders for modernizing air raid shelters.

The upgrades come after Russian President Vladimir Putin repeatedly warned of retaliation if a target was attacked anywhere in Russia and after he put his own country’s nuclear forces on high alert.

Work on the shelters proceeded quietly, with no public announcements. Authorities appear to be spending hundreds of millions of rubles — the equivalent of millions of dollars — the Moscow Times reported.

Thousands of shelters that have been unused for decades are being made operational again.

The outlet also referred to other media reports that showed authorities were spending large sums on emergency shelters across the country.

Some cities don’t have enough space for their population, she added, citing a report that officials in the northern city of Petrozavodsk warned in January that public housing there could only accommodate an eighth of the city’s residents.

Russia on alert

While Ukraine has repeatedly promised not to attack Russian territory and said it only wants to protect its own soil, Putin has warned that Russia could be targeted and that it would retaliate if it did.

Ukraine’s allies, who provide the country with increasingly sophisticated weapons, have also asked Ukraine for assurances that it would not use those weapons to attack Russian territory.

Meanwhile, Putin has repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons if provoked, drawing outcry and condemnation from the US.

Putin may be preparing for such an eventuality and any ramifications, or at least trying to reassure his officials and civilians that Russia is prepared.

Putin has described his invasion of Ukraine as necessary to stop the West’s attack on Russia.

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