Footage shows a massive explosion in the far north of Russia close to one of Vladimir Putin's secret military sites. The detonation - one of two - was only around eight miles from the Severomorsk-1 naval airbase, weapons storages and bunkers. The military hideout on the Kola Peninsula is home to Russian fighter jets, bombers and maritime surveillance aircraft. There was no clear explanation as to the cause of the explosions. One theory was that a Putin missile experiment had gone wrong - not for the first time in this region, with a devastating impact.
“There were two explosions,” said a woman quoted by The Barents Observer. “I live on Starostina Street, on the 8th floor. The house was shaking. It was terrible.”. This came on the day Putin was being quizzed in an annual session on nationwide TV. Reports indicate two explosions shaking windows and walls. The ignition came soon after Putin had finished his marathon TV call-in and press conference session in which he had blamed the West for tension in the world.
An innocent explanation is that it was the disposal of substandard ammunition, as is periodically carried out at a special detonation site near Severomorsk-3. Yet locals reported their houses shaking in unusually powerful detonations. Tormod Kværna, Scientific Adviser on Seismology and Test Ban Monitoring with NORSAR, said his station recorded a signal which could have meant a huge explosion. “At about 14.45 in a clear sky appeared three bright plasmoids, bright white light with a periodicity of 30 seconds, which smoothly descending moved to the ground, in the area south-east of Severomorsk-3,” said one observer.
