A woman walks past an air raid shelter made of reinforced concrete in in the western Russian city of Kursk, 5 September 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE

A new section providing users with the location of nearby bomb shelters is to appear on the Russian government services portal Gosuslugi by the end of the year, the deputy head of the Civil Defence and Population Protection Department at the Emergency Situations Ministry, Sergey Starovoitov, announced on Wednesday.

“Every citizen will be able to log into their personal account on Gosuslugi, click on a dedicated tab, and see which shelter they are assigned to, and where they should go in the event of an emergency,” Starovoitov said, adding that a similar function was also planned for evacuation points, “showing citizens where to report in case an order to evacuate is issued".

According to Starovoitov, the system has already been tested in the Kursk and Belgorod regions, but a nationwide roll-out is now planned by the end of 2025.

He also noted that around 155 billion rubles (around €1.7 billion) will be required to repair and modernise the country’s bomb shelters. While the Emergency Situations Ministry initially approached the Ministry of Finance for assistance, Starovoitov said that it was ultimately informed that regional authorities would be expected to fund the renovations themselves. Nevertheless, refurbishment work is ongoing and is expected to be completed by 2030.

As of 2016, Russia had a total of 16,448 air raid shelters and bunkers according to figures provided by the Accounts Chamber, the parliamentary body charged with financial oversight of the federal budget.