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Agence France-Presse

Russia’s nuclear agency chief confirmed on Monday that five scientists killed last week were developing “new weapons” and vowed to continue testing despite the explosion.
The accident took place at an Arctic military facility on the coast of the White Sea on Thursday, but Russian authorities only admitted its nuclear nature on Saturday.
The explosion caused a spike in radiation levels.
US experts have said it could be linked to testing of the “Burevestnik” cruise missile, touted by Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this year.

As a memorial service was held for the scientists on Monday, the head of nuclear agency Rosatom said their efforts would continue.
“The best [thing] for their memory will be our further work on the new weapons,” Alexei Likhachev was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
“We are fulfilling the task of the motherland, its security will be reliably ensured.”
Rosatom said this weekend that its staff were providing engineering and technical support for the “isotope power source” of a missile.
Russia readies ‘virtually unsinkable’ floating nuke plant for Arctic voyage
The missile was being tested on a platform at sea when its fuel caught fire and caused an explosion, it said. Several staff were blown into the sea by the blast.
The Russian military announced the death of two “specialists” after the explosion but it is not known if they were among the five scientists whose deaths were announced by Rosatom.
Three other people were injured in the accident, suffering burns, according to the nuclear agency.
The military did not initially say that the accident involved nuclear equipment, stressing that radiation levels were normal afterwards.

But the nearby city of Severodvinsk recorded elevated levels following the accident and panicked residents rushed to buy iodine to counteract radiation.
In a state of the nation address earlier this year Putin announced the development of what he called “invincible” missiles, threatening to deploy them against “decision-making centres” in Western countries if there were serious threats against Russia.
Experts have linked the blast to the 9M730 Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile, known by Nato as SSC-X-9 Skyfall.
Putin said in February that tests on the Burevestnik were going successfully.

The accident took place at the Nyonoksa test site on the White Sea, used for testing missiles deployed in nuclear submarines and ships since the Soviet era.
A memorial service for the scientists was held Monday in the closed city of Sarov, 500km (300 miles) east of Moscow.
Sergei Kiriyenko, the deputy head of Putin’s administration and a former nuclear chief, called the victims “real heroes” at the ceremony. He said that while conducting the tests the scientists took on physical risks “which, unfortunately, however much you prepare, cannot be completely avoided”.
Putin’s 20 years on the global stage
During the cold war, Sarov was a top-secret city known as Arzamas-16. The centre produced the Soviet Union’s first nuclear weapons. It is still a closed city accessible only with special passes.
Last month, 14 Russian navy officers were killed in a fire on a top-secret nuclear-powered submersible in circumstances that have not been fully revealed.
The incident comes with fears of a new arms race after Moscow and Washington withdrew earlier this year from the cold war-era Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty.


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Russia

Scientists killed in missile test blast were working on ‘new weapons’, says Russian nuclear agency chief, vowing to continue testing

An undated file photo shows a Russian Iskander-K missile launched during a military exercise at a training ground at the Luzhsky Range, near St Petersburg, Russia. Photo: Russian Defence Ministry Press Service via AP

epa07768167 Russian President Vladimir Putin (C) poses for a photo with members motorbike club Night Wolves at the Babylon's Shadow bike show in Sevastopol, Crimea, 10 August 2019 (issued 11 August 2019). Putin and the Night Wolves bikers took part in an annual show organised by the motorcycle club in the Black Sea peninsula, annexed by Russia from Ukraine in March 2014, while tens of thousands of people on 10 August protested against Putin's government following local election violations. EPA-EFE/ALEXEI DRUZHININ / SPUTNIK / KREMLIN POOL / POOL

A picture taken on November 9, 2011 shows buildings at a military base in the small town of Nyonoska in Arkhangelsk region. - Russia's nuclear agency chief on August 12 confirmed that five scientists killed last week were developing "new weapons" and vowed to continue testing despite the explosion. (Photo by - / AFP)

In this grab taken from a footage provided by the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM press service, a woman holds roses as she and other people gather for the funerals of five Russian nuclear engineers killed by a rocket explosion in Sarov, the closed city, located 370 kilometers (230 miles) east of Moscow, which has served as a base for Russia's nuclear weapons program since the late 1940s, Russia, Monday, Aug. 12, 2019. Russia's Rosatom state nuclear concern said Thursday's explosion at a military testing range in northwestern Russia occurred while the engineers were testing a "nuclear isotope power source" for a rocket engine, a tragedy that fueled radiation fears and raised new questions about a secretive weapons program (Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM via AP)

A screen grab from footage of the funerals on Monday of five Russian nuclear engineers killed by a rocket explosion in Sarov. Photo: Rosatom via AP

Flags lowered and events cancelled as Russia mourns ‘heroes’ killed in missile test

Buildings at a military base in the small town of Nyonoska in Arkhangelsk region. Photo: AFP

FILE - This undated file photo provided Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017, by Russian Defense Ministry official web site shows a Russian Iskander-K missile launched during a military exercise at a training ground at the Luzhsky Range, near St. Petersburg, Russia. A landmark arms control treaty that President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev signed three decades ago is dead. The U.S. and Russia both walked away from the deal on Friday, Aug. 2, 2019. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP/File)

INF nuclear treaty: US, Russia rip up cold war-era missile pact

An activist holds a mock missile during a demonstration against the ending of the INF treaty in Berlin. Photo: EPA-EFE

epa07752892 (FILE) - Visitors look at Russian tactical ballistic missile OTR-21 Tochka-U (L), 122mm multiple rocket launcher BM-21 Grad (2-L), tactical ballistic missile 9K720 Iskander-M (C) and 300mm multiple rocket launcher BM-30 Smerch (R) during a military exhibition marking the Tank's Day on a tank range in Luga, outside St. Petersburg, Russia, 09 September 2017 (reissued 02 August 2019). US formally withdraws from INF nuclear treaty with Russia on 02 August 2019. EPA-EFE/ANATOLY MALTSEV

Russia buries 14 navy officers killed in submarine fire in Saint Petersburg

A navy officer mourns after a funeral ceremony at a cemetery in Saint Petersburg. Photo: AFP

People lay flowers at the graves of the 14 crew members who died in a fire on a Russian navy's deep-sea research submersible, next to the graves of crew members of Kursk submarine, right, at the Serafimovskoye memorial cemetery during a funeral ceremony in St. Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, July 6, 2019. Russian President Vladimir Putin has awarded the nation's highest honors to 14 seamen who died in a fire on one of the navy's research submersibles. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

epa07698688 A woman lights a candle at the grave of Captain 3rd rank Vladimir Sukhinichev, one of the 14 crew members who died in a fire on a Russian navy's deep-sea research submersible, at the Serafimovskoye memorial cemetery during a funeral ceremony in St. Petersburg, Russia, 06 July 2019. Fourteen people died from suspected smoke inhalation aboard the Losharik submarine in the Barents Sea on 01 July. EPA-EFE/ANATOLY MALTSEV

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World

Russia & Central Asia


Weapon, thought to be the ‘Burevestnik’ cruise missile, was being tested on platform at sea when fuel caught fire and caused an explosion
Incident comes amid fears of new arms race after Moscow and Washington withdrew from cold war-era nuclear treaty



Incident comes amid fears of new arms race after Moscow and Washington withdrew from cold war-era nuclear treaty.


Defence

Vladimir Putin