Kosvinsky Kamen
Косвинский камень
Highest point
Elevation1,519 m (4,984 ft)
Coordinates59°31′N 59°03′E / 59.517°N 59.050°E / 59.517; 59.050
Geography
LocationRussia
Parent rangeUral Mountains

Mount Kosvinsky Kamen, Kosvinsky Mountain, Kosvinski Mountain,[1] Kosvinsky Rock or Rostesnoy Rock (Russian: Косвинский камень, Косьвинский камень, Ростесной камень) is a mountain in the northern Urals, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia.[2][3]

Its summit is bare of vegetation with an uneven rocky surface and small lakes fed by melting snow. The Kosva River flows from the mountain, hence the name.[3]

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia describes Kosvinsky Rock as "mountain massif" of height 1,519 m.[4] Its constitution is pyroxenites and dunites of lower and middle Paleozoic era. The slopes are covered with conifers with some birch up to 900–1000 m, with alpine tundra above.[5]

Military

According to a 1 April 1997 article in the Washington Times, a CIA report claimed that there were construction works for a "nuclear-survivable, strategic command post at Kosvinsky Mountain".[6] It was designed to resist US earth penetrating weapons and serves a similar role as the American Cheyenne Mountain Complex.[6] The timing of the Kosvinsky completion date is regarded as one explanation for US interest in a new nuclear bunker buster and the declaration of the deployment of the B61 Mod 11 in 1997: Kosvinsky is protected by about 1,000 feet (300 m) of granite.[7]

It is claimed that the command post of the Perimeter system is in the bunker under Kosvinsky Kamen mountain.[8][9]

See also

References

  1. ^ Austin, Greg; Muraviev, Alexey D. (10 May 2000). The Armed Forces of Russia in Asia. I.B. Tauris. p. 187. ISBN 978-1860644856.
  2. ^ Brockhaus and Efron describe its location within the Russian Empire as Verkhoturye uyezd, Perm Governorate, in the okrug of the Bogoslovsky copper plant (Богословский медноплавильный завод)
  3. ^ a b Косвинский камень, Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (in Russian)
  4. ^ Brockhaus and Efron say that its elevation is 2,375 ft., mountain foot circumference is about 40 km.
  5. ^ "Косвинский камень," Great Soviet Encyclopedia (in Russian)
  6. ^ a b "Moscow builds bunkers against nuclear attack", by Bill Gertz, Washington Times, 1 April 1997
  7. ^ "Kosvinsky Mountain, Kos'vinskiy Kamen', Gora, MT 59°31'00"N 59°04'00"E, Russia". Global Security. Weapons of mass destruction.
  8. ^ Ron Rosenbaum, Slate magazine "The Return of the Doomsday Machine?", 31 August 2007.
  9. ^ 1231-й центр боевого управления (в/ч 20003)
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