A video has emerged showing the chilling moment Vladimir Putin passively watched from a bunker as a nuclear bomb exploded in the distance. The worryingly unmoved Russian despot was being given a guided tour of a mock-up of a Soviet-era facility and nuclear testing site.
Russia has the world’s largest stockpile of nuclear warheads, with an armageddon-triggering 5,000 or more of the deadly devices each capable of flattening whole cities.
In footage shared by Anton Gerashchenko, the Advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Putin, 71, can be seen listening intently as he is given a talk about the bunker and nuclear weapons.
A translation of the video from Mr Gerashchenko has a guide saying “don’t worry, it’s going to get a little loud” after he presses a launch button on a control panel.
Both the guide and Putin then walk over to a large slat set in the far wall which is designed to recreate the viewing area at a Soviet nuclear testing facility.
With a flash of light and noise an explosion is then triggered and through the viewing window the ominous shape of a mushroom cloud can be seen forming.
Rather than appearing shocked or moved by the explosion, Putin simply nods and stares with goose-bump-inducing coldness. The guide said in the past there would be no viewing gap but that scientists would feel the “ground shaking”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will make a one-day trip to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia focused on the Israeli-Hamas war and host the Iranian president in Moscow this week, the Kremlin has said.
Putin will make working visits to both countries on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The talks will focus on bilateral relations, the war between Israel and Hamas and other international issues, Peskov said. Issues related to oil price caps under OPEC+ will also be on the agenda, he added.
Putin’s trip was first announced on Monday by his foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov, who didn’t give a date for the visits when he spoke to the Russian news outlet Life.
