US and Russia To Hold Nationwide Emergency Alert Drills on Same Day

The U.S. and Russia have both announced they will be holding nationwide emergency alert exercises on Wednesday.

Tensions between Washington and Moscow have intensified throughout Russian President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Putin issued vague nuclear threats in February over Western tank supplies to Ukraine.

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said that beginning at approximately 2:20 p.m. ET, it will conduct a nationwide test of its Emergency Alert System (EAS) for TVs and radios, and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) for phones.

Cell towers will broadcast a signal for approximately 30 minutes, causing WEA-compatible wireless phones that are switched on, within range of an active cell tower and whose wireless provider participates in WEA, to receive the test message.

The EAS portion of the test is scheduled to last approximately one minute, FEMA said.

Orlando Olivera, Coordinator of FEMA's Caribbean Area Office in Puerto Rico, said in a statement that the federal agency wants to "ensure that the systems continue to be effective" and that "the public understands and uses these alerts and warnings about emergencies, particularly those on the national level, as we work to strengthen emergency readiness among our communities."

Russian authorities have asked the public to "remain calm" when a nationwide emergency alert drill is held on Wednesday.

"Hearing the sound of a siren, you need to remain calm and not panic, turn on the TV—any publicly accessible channel or radio—and listen to the information message," Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations (MCHS) said via its Telegram channel.

The ministry said such drills are necessary "to be confident in the performance of all existing systems for the timely delivery of signals and information to the population in the event of emergency situations."

According to independent Russian news outlet Meduza, such drills are carried out in Russia at least once a year.

The announcements fueled speculation that Russia is launching a "nuclear war preparation drill."

"Nationwide Nuclear Preparation in Russia and Emergency Alert Test in the US," said a post by X (formerly Twitter) user Terror_Alarm, which has been viewed more than 26,000 times at the time of writing.

"Russia starts first ever Nationwide Nuclear War preparation drill today Oct 3," it said, providing an erroneous date for Moscow's emergency alert drills. "US announces Nationwide Emergency Alert Test tomorrow Oct. 4 at 2:20 p.m. EDT."

The X user was likely referring to information published by Telegram channel Baza last week that said Russia would hold drills on October 3 in preparation for "the danger of armed conflicts involving nuclear powers."

Newsweek has contacted the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, FEMA, and MCHS for comment via email.

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