Russian Presidential Administrative Directorate building bomb shelter at Moscow hospital used by top officials

The Russian Presidential Administrative Directorate is planning to build a new bomb shelter on the territory of Moscow’s Central Clinical Hospital, according to documents that have appeared on Russia’s public procurements portal.

The project is labeled in the portal under the name “Execution of design and survey work for facility’s construction” and was added on May 26. Its initial cost is indicated as 35 million rubles ($431,350).

The documents refer to the construction of a “protective civil defense shelter” at 15 Marshal Timoshenko Street. This is also the address of the city’s Central Clinical Hospital, where many of Russia’s high-ranking officials and politicians go for medical treatment. The project is set to be finished on December 20, 2023.

The documents don’t indicate the size or capacity of the shelter, but they do provide for facilities such as operating rooms, pre-operating rooms, and dressing rooms. They also note that the facility should provide for the operation of special communication systems “for officials who are objects of state protection” and should “equip the premises of these officials with technical means of protection against leaks of classified information.”