3-5 Aug 2004

Nuclear weapons accident response exercise held in Murmansk region Background NATO-Russia relations The NATO-Russia Council From 3 to 5 August 2004, NATO experts observed a Russian military exercise, Avaria 2004, focused on protecting and defending nuclear weapons convoys and responding to terrorist attacks. The exercise, part of the NATO-Russia Council work programme, was held at a testing ground near the town of Olenegorsk in the Murmansk region. It simulated a scenario in which terrorists attack truck and rail convoys with the aim of capturing the transported nuclear weapon. The convoy guards were to repel the terrorist attack before arrival of the main response force, equipped with helicopters and armoured vehicles. In the second part of the exercise, divers searched for and recovered a container holding a mock nuclear weapon from a submerged vehicle. Openness and transparency Fifty experts from 17 NATO countries and NATO headquarters attended the exercise, the first time that Alliance representatives have observed a Russian military exercise of this kind. Speaking at the exercise, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov emphasized that Russia “seeks to hold an open exercise to show our possibilities in ensuring safety at nuclear facilities”. Avaria 2004 involved over 1,000 people including 700 servicemen of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, representatives of the Leningrad and Moscow military districts, Air Force, Air Defence, North Fleet naval helicopters as well as rescue units of the Emergency Management Ministry of the Russian Federation and the Federal Atomic Energy Agency.