(Reuters) – Russia will conduct a nationwide test of its public emergency warning systems on Wednesday, sounding sirens and pausing television and radio broadcasts in a biennial initiative amid the war in Ukraine.
Around 10:30 a.m., sirens will sound for a minute in most of Russia's eleven time zones, with loudspeakers signaling “Attention everyone!” broadcast. call, the Emergency Situations Ministry said on the messaging app Telegram.
The exercise aims to check warning systems, check the readiness of those responsible for launching them and raise public awareness, the ministry said, adding: “Don't panic – everything is going according to a plan.”
The rehearsal frequency has doubled compared to last year, after the first event in 2020.
It comes amid Russia's war in Ukraine, which Moscow began in 2022 and caused the deepest crisis in its relations with the West since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
