A black bear has been filmed running riot around a top secret Russian town where Vladimir Putin is believed to house his nuclear submarines.
The wild beast was caught on video in the remote outpost of Vilyuchinsk on the country’s Pacific coast – offering a rare glimpse into the town, which is usually off limits to foreigners.
Emergency officials can be heard shouting: “A bear ! All hide! Everyone run!” in the clip.
But while residents appear panicked by the bear’s appearance, those watching the scene unfold overseas might be more interested in what’s going on in the background.
Footage of the bear shows a large number of residential blocks with shutters on shops closed.
The bear is then filmed striding down a footpath in front of a large grey block with cars parked along the street.
Foreigners are banned in the secret town of 23,000 people, nine time zones east of Moscow.
The closed town does not show up on Google Maps nor does it show on StreetView but an aerial view shows the town next to the Kamchatka peninsula, a spectacular mountainous region dotted with volcanoes and glaciers.
Vilyuchinsk – known in the Cold War by the name Sovetsky and later the designation Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky-50 – is a famous nuclear submarine base and repair facility.
The footage was revealed by The Siberian Times , which said bears are getting more brazen in “encroaching human settlements”
This is seen as a sign that their food supply is less adequate than in past years.
A Kamchatka region emergencies official said: “A bear came to the city of Vilyuchinsk. Police and rangers acted together to push the animal outside the town.”
There were no reports of injuries to people.
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