Had nuclear war ever broken out between the Soviet Union and the West, Major Valeriy Kuznetsov would probably have been one of the very last people left alive on Earth. An officer in the 46th Division of the Soviet Strategic Rocket Forces, he was stationed at a nuclear missile bunker in Ukraine, where he sat with two comrades in a command capsule 150 feet underground.

Protected by 6ft-thick metal walls, the capsule was fitted with shock absorbers and seatbelts, enabling those inside to survive the impact of a direct Western nuclear strike. It would then have been Kuznetsov’s duty to type a set of codes into a keyboard, then press a button marked “Start Up”.

From underground silos in the surrounding countryside, giant metal hatches would have opened, and up to 80 strategic nuclear missiles would have launched, enough to destroy the West many times over. It would almost certainly have spelt the end of humankind – and yes, Kuznetsov is in no doubt that he would have followed orders.

“It would have been my duty,” he smiles. “What would have happened to my family, my relatives, my country, all that was a secondary thing. We had to be there in that bunker till the end of life on Earth.”