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Russian Official Proposes Reviving Civil-Defense Training

October 30, 2015

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin has said the country should revive the old Cold War practice of training civilians on how to respond to a nuclear attack.

Speaking after a meeting of Russia's Security Council on October 30, Rogozin said the United States was upsetting the nuclear balance by developing new weapons systems.

Russia had no choice but to react to the aggressive capabilities of the United States, he added.

One measure, Rogozin said, could be recreating 'civil defense' in order to 'avoid colossal losses' among the population in the event of a nuclear attack.

During the Cold War, civil-defense training was compulsory. Soviet authorities built a system of bomb shelters in case of a nuclear attack, and schoolchildren were trained how to put on protective masks.

Russia's annexation of Crimea in March 2014 and the conflict in eastern Ukraine has plunged Moscow's ties with the West to lows unseen since the Cold War.

Based on reporting by Reuters and TASS

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-rogozin-proposes-revival-civil-defense/27336478.html

Copyright (c) 2015. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.