Russia is upgrading its bomb shelters amid fear of attacks as war continues, says report

The Kremlin has issued an order to upgrade bomb shelters across Russia due to increased concerns of potential strikes amid the ongoing conflict with Ukraine. According to The Moscow Times, in October, the Kremlin issued a decree which directed western Russian regions to prepare for potential strikes. It also outlined procedures to ensure public safety during attacks. However, according to a report from Newsweek, the bomb shelter upgrades have been carried out across the entire country.

Steven Myers, a former member of both the U.S. State Department's Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy and the National Security Membership Committee, said that The Moscow Times' report on the Kremlin's bomb shelter upgrades is credible. He added that it would be a rational and wise decision for the Russian government to take, considering the high concentration of its population, particularly in the Moscow and Saint Petersburg area, which represents one of Russia's biggest vulnerabilities.

Are Russia's bomb shelters outdated?

According to The Moscow Times, many of Russia's bomb shelters and bunkers are outdated remnants from the Soviet era that have been unused for decades. As the conflict in Ukraine persists, local authorities seem to be investing significant amounts of money to make them suitable for occupancy once again. The Moscow Times reporter, Pyotr Kozlov, noted this in his report that regions across Russia have spent substantial funds to renovate bomb shelters, following directives from Moscow. There are reportedly hundreds of tenders on an official online platform searching for firms to fix bomb shelters across the country.

Mark N. Katz, a professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, suggested to Newsweek that Moscow may be upgrading the bomb shelters in order to grant funding to well-connected contractors. However, another possibility is that Moscow is preparing for the possibility of being bombed, and using the upgrades to support their narrative that Russia is under attack from Ukraine and the West. William Reno, a professor at Northwestern University, also thinks that the upgrades may simply be a way to support Putin's narrative that the conflict in Ukraine is a war between Russia and the West. "There is no tactical value in using resources to upgrade Russia's bomb shelters. Ukraine doesn't possess the capacity (to hit Russian targets beyond the borders)," he said.