(Reuters) – Russia will conduct a nationwide test of its public emergency warning systems on Wednesday, sounding sirens and interrupting television and radio broadcasts in a twice-yearly initiative amid the war in Ukraine.
Around 10:30 a.m. in most of Russia’s 11 time zones, sirens will sound for a minute, with loudspeakers broadcasting a “Attention everyone!” call, the emergency ministry said on the messaging app Telegram.
The exercise aims to check the warning systems, the readiness of those responsible for launching them and to raise public awareness, the ministry said, adding, “Don’t panic – everything is according to a plan.”
The repetition rate doubled from last year, following the first event held in 2020.
It comes amid Russia’s war in Ukraine, which Moscow launched in 2022, sparking 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)