Overview
- A joint investigation published Sunday assembled procurement records, satellite imagery and on‑site photos showing hundreds of millions spent on Facility 1335 beneath Kosvinsky Kamen and large deliveries of fuel, gas, steel and heavy machinery.
- The reporting documents major tunneling and internal work, including plans for at least 24 underground chambers, extensive reinforcement and new surface construction that matches public tenders from 2011 through 2024.
- Russian transcripts and veteran officers cited in the probes say the Kremlin explicitly ordered an “absolutely secure” control facility and that Facility 1335 was placed on combat duty in 2023, with personnel now stationed at the site.
- Experts say the physical hardening and backup communications capacity are consistent with a Perimeter or 'Dead Hand' function that would enable mass retaliatory launches if central command were destroyed, a development that has renewed NATO concern.
- The revival updates a Cold War fail‑safe that fell dormant after the Soviet collapse and is happening alongside wider modernisation of Russia’s nuclear forces, a trend that could push Western states to harden their own command centres and alter deterrence calculations.