It could have been a scene straight out of Dr Strangelove when President Vladimir Putin stepped into the Russian Ministry of Defence's brand new, three-tiered, multibillion-dollar control centre this week, for a war briefing that had its fair share of movie-like pageantry.
The fortified National Control Defence Centre was Putin's first stop after officials confirmed that the Russian charter jet crash that claimed 224 lives last month was the result of an act of terror.
On movie theatre-size screens, live broadcasts showed long-range strategic bombers taking off from Russian air bases to fly sorties over Syria. Putin instructed commanders in Syria to "make contact with the French and work with them as allies" as Russia seeks a central role in a proposed anti-terrorist coalition.
But the real star of the show may have been the building itself, which is designed to be a new nerve centre for the Russian military that will co-ordinate military action around the world, including ballistic missile launches and strategic nuclear deployments.
It was finished in 2014 and is part of a massive, decade-long modernisation of Russia's army, which has cost hundreds of billions of dollars, but has also produced noted improvements, from the expertise of Russian troops deployed during the Crimea operation to the recent cruise missile strikes launched from the Caspian Sea. The centre also includes a helicopter pad that was deployed on the Moscow River and can accommodate Russia's Mi-8 transport helicopter. In case of a war, it would be the country's premier communications centre in a war.
