Russians Advised to 'Turn to God, Leave Town' Amid Bomb Shelter Shortage

Russians living in the capital, Moscow, are reportedly being advised to "turn to God" in the event of an attack on the city amid a lack of usable bomb shelters.

Local authorities are hiding the addresses of air-raid shelters from the public and are repairing them only for government officials and members of Russian President Vladimir Putin's ruling United Russia party, the "Mozhem Obyasnit" (We Can Explain) Russian Telegram news channel reported.

A year after the city's mayor issued an edict to make air-raid shelters available to the public, the majority of bomb shelters in Moscow are still unusable, with many long abandoned, while some have been rented out as commercial premises, Mozhem Obyasnit found.

Moscow City Duma Deputy Sergei Mitrokhin said that although there are many shelters in the capital, "no one knows what condition they are in and where they are. There are no signs, no identification marks. If the Ministry of Emergency Situations reports on some work in this direction, then it is, of course, throwing dust in your eyes."

Newsweek reached out to Russia's Foreign Ministry for comment by email.

It comes after the Kremlin issued a decree in October 2022 that ordered regions in western Russia to prepare for the possibility of strikes inside Russian territory.

In May, Russia blamed Ukraine for a large-scale drone attack on Moscow—the first since Putin's full-scale invasion of his neighboring country began last February. In the aftermath of the attack, it emerged that Putin ordered the construction of a new bomb shelter at the country's most elite hospital, where high-ranking officials are treated.

The Kremlin ordered bomb shelters to be upgraded throughout Russia, but it appears Muscovites still lack the protective structures to protect them from drone attacks.

Last year, only one bomb shelter in a residential building was repaired, and it houses the local branch of the ruling United Russia party, Mozhem Obyasnit reported.

The publication attempted to gather the addresses of bomb shelters in the city, although the actual addresses of shelters or their number are a state secret. Some information can only be obtained in person from Moscow's emergency response centers twice weekly.

"Their employees often refuse to give addresses even upon request," Mozhem Obyasnit said.

"In every district, there is a civil emergency response center where people should be told what to do in various emergency situations. In practice, these points have very exotic opening hours; they don't talk to people there and assure them that there is no danger. The citizen's right to receive information is not respected," Ivan Drobotov, a civil activist and author of the Moscow Bomb Shelters Telegram channel told Mozhem Obyasnit.

Activists who asked for their identities to remain anonymous said that when they asked about the availability of shelters in the city, they were advised to "trust in God," "buy a dacha (country house)," or "leave town."

The issue appears to be prevalent in other areas of Russia.

In February, residents in the city of Oryol, near the border with Ukraine, filmed an appeal addressed to Putin, asking him to restore a bomb shelter, saying that "we cannot hide in our basements."

"All you need to do is put in a little effort," one man said, explaining that Ukrainian forces were "constantly shelling" the nearby Kursk and Belgorod regions and that he and fellow residents felt vulnerable as they live in a multi-story building.

Ukraine rarely claims responsibility for attacks on Russian soil.

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