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Putin has resurrected a sinister Cold War nuclear system designed to ensure Russia can unleash a retaliatory strike even if a devastating attack wipes out its leadership.
asserted
attack → see → leadership
Hidden beneath a remote mountain in the Ural wilderness in central Russia, a vast underground command centre has been massively expanded in what appears to be a revival of the Soviet Union's notorious 'Dead Hand' nuclear strategy.
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what → hide → strategy
The bunker, known as Facility 1335, lies near the tiny village of Kytlym, where soldiers now guard a heavily fortified military complex - hundreds of miles from any city and surrounded by impassable terrain.
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soldiers → know → terrain
The site is part of Russia's 'Perimeter' system - known in the West as Dead Hand - which was designed to preserve the country's ability to retaliate against an enemy even after a catastrophic attack had severed communications with its leadership.
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attack → know → leadership
After such an attack, Facility 1335 would transmit radio signals to mobile missile launchers and any other surviving launch silos to retaliate in full force.
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Facility → transmit → force
Satellite images, construction documents and photographs posted online by Russian soldiers reveal the extraordinary scale of the project.
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images → post → project
And experts say the renewed investment suggests the Kremlin is once again placing enormous importance on ensuring its nuclear command infrastructure can survive a major attack.
uncertain
infrastructure → say → attack
Facility 1335 itself is designed to withstand American bunker-busting bombs.
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Facility → design → bombs
This vast nuclear bunker - built to withstand American bunker-busting bombs - ensures the West would be destroyed if nuclear warheads hit Russia.
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warheads → build → Russia
It would send out signals to launch missiles following an attack if communications were cut off with leadership
Putin revived the Cold War scheme as his paranoia over a Western attack grows.
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paranoia → send → attack
This bunker, dubbed Facility 1335, is protected by a machine gun turret (the olive green tower seen on the left) and a garrison of soldiers at all times
This picture of a man inside the tunnels matches the description on the papers seen in the investigation - four metres wide and ten metres tall
A joint investigation by The Sunday Times, Danwatch and the Dossier Centre has uncovered hundreds of millions of pounds' worth of construction work at the site, including new tunnels and at least 24 underground chambers.
It is believed that Facility 1335 and the rest of the Soviet Perimeter system fell dormant at the end of the Cold War after it had been built in the 1980s at the height of nuclear tensions.
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it → dub → tensions
But Putin has now revived the programme amid rising paranoia about a Western attack on Russia.
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Putin → revive → Russia
He has reopened and greatly expanded the Facility 1335 bunker, which sits beside the 2,000 residents of Kytlym, 1,300ft above sea level, surrounded by coniferous forest.
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which → reopen → forest
The Russian president has frequently made threats of escalation in his war with Ukraine - including using a nuclear weapon there as well as threatening NATO members - following drone attacks on Moscow and key Russian oil infrastructure.
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president → make → Moscow
Facility 1335 was described by a senior Russian military figure as the place where 'strategic missile forces will fulfil their historic mission of retaliation against any enemy'.
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forces → describe → enemy
Satellite images show huge construction work and an infestation of soldiers at the site, and now the first pictures have been revealed through open sources.
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pictures → show → sources
They show that the entrance is guarded by a machine gun turret and soldiers.
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entrance → show → turret
Another captures what is believed to be an unprecedented look inside the tunnels.
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what → capture → tunnels
A man is seen standing inside a tunnel four metres wide by 10 metres high - which matches the schematics seen on construction documents in the investigation.
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which → see → investigation
The bunker's creation is extensively documented in a paper trail millions of pages long - tenders and building contracts stretching from 2011 to 2024 worth the equivalent of hundreds of millions of pounds.
Three Eiffel Towers' worth of steel - about 20,000 tonnes of it - and 150,000 square metres of concrete are thought to have been used to build the giant bunker.
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worth → document → bunker
'It is an enormous construction,' Professor Per Golterman at the Institute for Construction and Mechanical Technology at the Technical University of Denmark said after estimating the project used as much concrete as that needed to construct a large multi-storey building.
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Golterman → say → building
While this gigantic doomsday infrastructure is being built in Russia, Danish intelligence warned of a 'low but growing risk' of a Kremlin-ordered attack on a NATO country, adding that Moscow was under more pressure than ever since its invasion of Ukraine.
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Moscow → build → Ukraine
Earlier this week, NATO fighter jets in Poland and Romania were scrambled after Russian drones came close to their borders with Ukraine.
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drones → scramble → Ukraine
A photo of the entrance to the original Dead Hand bunker in the 1980s, which has since been rebuilt extensively by Putin
A model of the new military camp at the site, known as Unit 20003.
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which → rebuild → Unit
The camp has been massively expanded since the site was created in the 1980s
Three Eiffel Towers' worth of steel and 150,000 square metres of concrete have been used to build the bunker as well as hundreds of kilometres of cable and the equivalent of hundreds of millions of pounds
A satellite image of Unit 20003 shows the same layout at the model
A zoomed-out satellite image showing Unit 20003 at the top.
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image → expand → top
The brown mass on the left is Kosvinsky Kamen mountain, under which the bunker is believed to have been built.
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bunker → believe → which
Two other roads lead up towards the mountain and are thought to be other entrances
The first official clue towards the revival of the Dead Hand scheme was mentioned by Putin in a meeting with military advisers in 2020.
'
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clue → lead → 2020
We are aware that a lot depends on the survivability of these systems and their ability to continue operating in a combat environment', Putin said in transcripts released by the Kremlin.
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Putin → depend → Kremlin
'They have told me that the creation of an absolutely secure facility for controlling strategic nuclear forces, among others, is nearing completion, and that it will have a very high safety margin.
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it → tell → margin
It was around this time that procurement for the bunker project, which was carved into the granite mountain of Kosvinsky Kamen just outside Kytlym, was at its height.
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which → carve → height
361.4km of cable, 5,429 lamps, 30 transformers, 160 ventilation units and 648 drilling tools were all ordered to the site between 2020 and 2021 - hundreds of miles from the nearest city and surrounded by coniferous forests.
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km → order → forests
Satellite pictures show huge piles of excavated earth accumulating on the mountainside over years of construction from 2022 to 2025.
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piles → show → 2025
Meanwhile, the building was tracked on paper too, documenting the job from start to finish, from tunneling to internal fit-outs.
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building → track → outs
The successful US bombing of nuclear bunkers in Iran adds further pressure on Russia and reduces a sense of safety.
Tom Roseth, expert in Russian security policy at the Norwegian Staff College, said: 'It appears that the Russians are securing this facility against every type of attack.
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Russians → add → attack
To protect 1335 and the command-and-control facilities of the nuclear forces, they therefore have to dig even deeper and reinforce the site even more.
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they → protect → site
The expansion of Facility 1335 follows a major upgrade of Russia's nuclear forces, which has been given high priority within the Russian armed forces.
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which → follow → forces
The perimeter will once again be given priority now, in a more tense geopolitical situation in which Russia sees itself as being in conflict with the West.'
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Russia → give → West
Pictures of the outside have been shared on social media by Russian soldiers stationed at the new part of the facility - a military camp called Unit 20003.
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Pictures → share → facility
The camp has been totally revamped and has grown hugely since its creation in the 1980s, where troops are drilled and undergo specialist training.
Retired Major General VG Khalin said that Facility 1335 was planned to be in 'combat duty' in 2022
Retired Major General VG Khalin, who served in Russia's main intelligence directorate, explained the Perimeter system in 2022 in the Russian newspaper Veteran-Rocketman, saying it started in 1973.
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it → revamp → 1973
He added: 'Currently, plans are underway to place its automation system on experimental combat duty at Facility 1335.
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plans → add → Facility
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia
