Studies carried out in one of Russia's most isolated military regions in recent years have reignited discussions about the future of a nuclear system from the Cold War era. Located deep in the Ural Mountains, surrounded by dense forests and hundreds of kilometers away from the nearest large settlements, the activity in the region remained away from public attention for a long time.
However, large-scale material shipments to the region in recent years, new construction activities and photographs shared by military personnel revealed that a much more comprehensive project than an ordinary renovation work was carried out here.
At the center of the work is a highly secret underground facility known as 'Objekt 1335'. The facility is of particular importance due to the 'Perimetr system', which is stated to be connected to the command and control infrastructure of Russia's strategic nuclear forces.
The system, known as 'Dead Hand' in the West, was developed during the Soviet Union in case the country's political and military leadership was neutralized by a large-scale nuclear attack. However, the most striking development regarding the current state of the facility is the extensive construction activities that show that not only an old shelter has been preserved here.
Objekt 1335 was built inside the granite mountain called 'Kosvinsky Kamen', located near the small settlement of Kytlim in the Sverdlovsk region of Russia. The region was chosen for the establishment of strategically important military facilities during the Soviet Union period. The difficulty of transportation, being surrounded by dense forests and the natural rock structure of the mountain allowed the establishment of a highly durable facility underground. The history of the facility dates back to the most tense years of the Cold War.
However, documents examined within the scope of a joint research show that the military infrastructure in the region has been re-invested with great investment in recent years. In the research conducted by The Times, Danwatch and Dossier Center, millions of documents related to Russia's military procurement system were examined. Satellite images and open source social media posts were also compared with these documents. The resulting picture indicates that a construction activity was carried out around Objekt 1335, which spanned many years and required serious resources.
One of the most striking details about the work in the region is the findings that the tunnel system inside the mountain has been expanded. The construction documents examined contain records of many underground sections and new tunnel work. Satellite images show large piles of soil and rocks left over from excavations on the slopes of the mountain.
Some photographs obtained from open sources also provide limited information about parts of the facility that have not been seen by the public before. In one of the photographs, it is seen that the external entrance of the facility is guarded by soldiers, while in another image there is a military personnel in a large underground tunnel.
It is considered that the dimensions of the tunnel coincide with the technical drawings in the construction documents. However, there are no independent and verifiable images of the entire internal structure of the facility. For this reason, public information about the full capacity of the underground complex and which sections are used for what purposes is limited.
One of the most striking aspects of the research is the financial and physical size of the project. Russian military procurement documents state that large amounts of construction materials and technical equipment have been ordered for the facility. In the documents; There are records of hundreds of kilometers of electrical and communication cables, thousands of lighting equipment, numerous transformers, hundreds of ventilation units, rock drilling and drilling equipment, and large amounts of materials such as steel and concrete.
According to Danwatch's research, it is estimated that the total value of these studies may reach 100 million dollars by 2024. The amount of steel and concrete used in the project also indicates extraordinary dimensions.
Professor Per Goltermann, a construction and mechanical technology expert from the Technical University of Denmark, drew attention to the size of the work, stating that the amount of concrete used for the project corresponded to the construction of a very large-scale structure. An investment of this size caused comments that the facility was not intended to be preserved solely in its current form.
The Perimetr system is at the center of the debate about Objekt 1335. Developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War, the main purpose of Perimetr was to ensure that the retaliatory capacity of nuclear forces was preserved in case the country's central command structure was disabled as a result of a major attack.
The system became known in the West as 'Dead Hand'. The basic logic here was that nuclear deterrence does not depend solely on the number of warheads possessed. In order for a country to deter the other side, it must have a reliable mechanism to ensure that it has the capacity to retaliate even after the first attack.
Perimetr emerged as one of the most extraordinary examples of this understanding. The actual technical working method of the system was kept secret for many years. Public information shows that the popular narrative that Perimetr is a simple system that operates completely independently and fires the entire nuclear arsenal without the need for any human intervention may not fully reflect the truth. It is considered that the main function of the system is to ensure the continuity of the command link between strategic nuclear forces even if communication with normal command centers is interrupted.
The timing of the work in Objekt 1335 is also noteworthy. Russian President Vladimir Putin drew attention to the importance of the survivability of the command systems of strategic nuclear forces in his meeting with military officials in 2020.
While Putin stated that it is critical for these systems to continue operating under war conditions, he stated that a facility with a high security level that will provide control of strategic nuclear forces is about to be completed. It seems that supply activities in the Kosvinsky Kamen region also intensified during the period when this statement was made.
There are records that hundreds of kilometers of cables, thousands of lamps, many transformers and ventilation equipment were sent to the region in 2020 and 2021. For this reason, researchers evaluate that a connection can be established between Putin's statement and the studies in Objekt 1335.
One of the most striking claims about the current state of the system comes from Russian military circles. In the statements examined by the joint investigation, retired Russian military officials who worked on the Perimetr system are quoted as saying that the system was modernized and Objekt 1335 was put into combat duty again.
In the statements of retired Major General V. G. Khalin, it was stated that studies were carried out for the modernization of the system, while Colonel Yu. Andreev is also reported to have said that the facility will be put into combat duty in 2023. While these statements are important, there is no detailed and independently verifiable technical explanation from the Russian government regarding the current operational status of the facility.
Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish two separate issues here: First, documents and images indicating that a large-scale modernization was carried out in Objekt 1335; The second is the extent to which this modernization means that the Perimetr system has been re-operationalized. While much more data is available in open sources on the first issue, the second issue remains largely confidential.
The change around the facility is not limited to the underground sections. It is reported that military unit number 20003 in the region has also been extensively renovated and expanded. Photos shared on social media accounts by Russian soldiers serving in the new section provide clues that the military infrastructure outside the facility has also been renewed.
The development of areas used for training and specialized activities of soldiers leads to assessments that the region has been restructured not only as a technical command center but also as an active military complex with permanent personnel. This development strengthens the assessment that the region, which was thought to have remained idle at the end of the Cold War, has regained importance.
Russia's investment in its nuclear command infrastructure comes at a time when relations between Moscow and the West have been seriously strained in recent years. While security tensions between Russia and NATO increased after the Ukraine war, Kremlin officials made statements regarding nuclear deterrence at various periods. Moscow also continues to modernize its strategic nuclear forces.
In this environment, the durability of underground command centers becomes more important. In terms of nuclear deterrence, just having missiles or warheads is not enough. Ensuring that the command centers, communication systems and decision mechanisms that will manage these weapons continue to operate after a possible attack is also an important part of strategic planning.
Tom Roseth, an expert on Russian security policy at the Norwegian Staff College, states that the work on Objekt 1335 points to Russia's effort to make its nuclear command and control facilities more resistant to possible attacks. According to Røseth, as the capabilities of modern weapons against underground targets increase, it becomes important to build deeper and more powerful nuclear command centers.
The activity in Russia's underground nuclear infrastructure comes at a time when the United States is modernizing its own strategic command facilities. Cheyenne Mountain Complex and Raven Rock Mountain Complex in the USA have been among the important elements of the country's strategic command-control infrastructure since the Cold War period.
These facilities are considered as parts of the infrastructure for the government and military command structure to continue their activities in the event of large-scale attacks or nuclear war scenarios. Therefore, the investments made by Russia and the USA in underground command centers show that nuclear competition is not just about missiles and warheads.
