A REMOTE island used for hundreds of atomic tests before being left untouched for decades is set to become Vladimir Putin’s new nuclear playground.
Novaya Zemlya is a desolate archipelago in the Arctic that is home to a worrying number of hungry polar bears who are said to terrorise the 3,000 locals.
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But the latest threat many fear could wreck havoc on the chilly island is Putin’s urge to ramp up the testing on his nukes.
The Russian tyrant is currently embroiled in his war in Ukraine since crossing the border over 900 days ago.
The threat to European stability through the horror invasion has prompted a number of concerned nations to worry about what Russia may do next.
With many fearing the sick dictator could turn to the nuclear option if he continues to be blocked from creating his perfect Russia.
Top lords at the Kremlin are reportedly even putting pressure on Putin to detonate an apocalyptic nuclear explosion as a warning to the West.
A source close to the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) said if Putin wishes to go ahead with nuclear testing in the face of his looming war against Nato then Novaya Zemlya could be the ideal spot.
The MoD maintain the nuclear test site and are said to have ensured its “operational readiness” for any scenario.
Director of the facility Rear-Admiral Andrei Sinitsyn said: “The test site is ready to resume full-scale testing activities. It is fully ready.
“The laboratory and testing facilities are ready. The personnel are ready. If the order is given, we will begin testing at any moment.”
Experts fear that Russians are testing the deadly Burevestnik – a nuclear-powered cruise missile dubbed “Flying Chornobyl” – on the Novaya Zemlya island.
It is capable of cruising in the air for days – even weeks – before blitzing enemy targets.
If Putin was to order his cronies to begin testing then it would mark the first to be conducted in over 34 years.
Soviet Russia completed at least 130 tests on the archipelago between 1955, and 1990.
These included 88 in the air, 39 underground and another three underwater.
The world’s most powerful nuclear bomb was even tested in the Arctic in 1961.
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