Russia’s chilling 'doomsday radio station' has sent out its first message in months.
Known officially as UVB-76, it dates back to the Cold War yet its purpose has remained speculative for many years.
Conspiracy theorists say the Soviet radio station sends out various military codes throughout the year, and could even have a link to the Kremlin's nuclear weaponry.
It continuously broadcasts a monotonous buzzing sound - about 25 tones per minute - which is occasionally interrupted by voice messages in Russian, consisting of call signs, names, or sequences of numbers.
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Earlier in May, the so-called 'Buzzer' broadcast the ominous code 'NZhTI 89905 BLEFOPUF 4097 5573' before Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump's 'excellent' phone call.
Just hours later, it followed up with 'NZhTI 01263 BOLTANKA 4430 9529'.
Now, on Monday (8 September), two codes were heard, including 'NZHTI' that has reportedly been used previously by the station, as well as 'HOTEL'.
A series of numbers - '38, 965, 78, 58, 88, 37' - were also heard, but the meaning behind the codes remains unknown.
"It is almost certainly the Russian government that is using it," claimed professor David Stupples, who teaches electronic and radio engineering at the City University of London.
He speculated to Popular Mechanics: "If it is the Russian government, it wouldn't be for peaceful purposes."
Freelance radio monitor Ary Boender, who runs the website Numbers Oddities, also said: "Some say that it is an old Soviet Dead Man's Switch that triggers a nuclear attack on the west when it stops buzzing.
"Others say that it is a homing beacon for UFOs or a mind control device with which the Russians can program your mind.
"In the past, it was said that it was a remote control station belonging to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant."
While we might not ever know for sure what the codes mean, what we do know is that Putin has been very open about the possibility of WW3. Although he isn't keen on nuclear war.
A week-long nuclear war between the US, its allies, and Russia, for instance, would kill 360 million people directly, according to a 2022 study.
Speaking at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum last year, he said it would be bad news for Europe.
"If, God forbid, it comes to strikes, everyone should realise that Russia has an early warning system for missile attacks. The US has it. Europe does not," Putin warned.
"They are more or less defenceless in this sense."
He said: "If those with whom we exchange such strikes [cease to] exist, whether the Americans will get involved in this exchange at the level of strategic weapons I doubt very much.
"The Europeans should think about it. But I assume that it will never come to that.
"We don’t have that need. Our armed forces so vastly outnumber them in conventional weapons that there is no need. I would ask you not to mention such things in vain."
Topics: Russia, Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin
Anish Vij