Russian village evacuated close to mystery ‘doomsday missile’ base where rocket explosion killed seven

RUSSIAN authorities yesterday evacuated a village close to a missile test site where a rocket explosion last year killed seven people.

Residents of Nyonoksa, on the country's northwestern coast, were asked to leave for a 36-hour window because the area would be part of a "danger zone" due to unspecified military activity.

Five buses were arranged to evacuate residents to the city of Severodvinsk, 25 miles away.

Residents of nearby Spoke village were also given the option to leave for their own safety - with the threat ending at 6am on Wednesday.

“People should approach the buses, no lists compiled in advance,” locals were told.

In August last year, seven people - five employees of Rosatom nuclear corporation and two Defence Ministry staff - died in an explosion at the Nyonoksa military test range.

The range is the main rocket-launching site for the Russian Navy.

Russian officials claimed the incident was the result of a failed test of a "power source for a liquid fuelled rocket engine", but no notices to warn pilots of an impending test had been filed.

The residents of Nyonoksa also received no warning, though they had been warned and evacuated ahead of earlier tests.

The exact cause of the explosion remains unknown, but it is thought to have occurred during an attempt to salvage a nuclear-powered cruise missile from the seabed following a failed test.

One fisherman reported seeing a 100-meter column of water shoot into the air off the coast after the explosion, while another saw a large whole in the side of a ship that had been at the site.

There was speculation the incident was part of testing for the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile.

Yesterday's activity is thought to have been related to another missile test or a further attempt to recover material from last year's test.

A special ship used for cleaning up nuclear waste - the Serebryanka - was seen in the area just before the evacuation notice was given, said one report.

One theory is that Russia is seeking to recover the radioactive remains of a weapon in the area.

The Burevestnik, unveiled in 2018 by Russian President Vladimir Putin, is viewed as a game-changing "doomsday" weapon.

It is seen by the Kremlin as a low-flying “stealth” cruise missile incapable of interception by existing Western air defences and delivering nuclear warheads anywhere around the globe.

Vladimir Putin has called it “a radically new type of weaponry” with  “unlimited range and unlimited ability to manoeuvre”.

Last October three US diplomats were stopped while trying to enter Nyonoksa.