Russia tested its emergency public warning systems across the country on Wednesday, blaring out sirens and interrupting some television and radio broadcasts to warn the population to stay calm.

The test, first conducted in 2020, is part of a new initiative that requires authorities to conduct tests twice a year, starting from Sept. 1.

It comes, though, amid the war in Ukraine that has triggered the deepest crisis in Russia’s relations with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

The United States was also conducting a large-scale test of its public warning systems on Wednesday, via U.S. mobile phones and TV and radio stations.

The purpose of the U.S. test is to ensure that the systems “continue to be effective in alerting the public to emergencies, particularly at the national level”, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, said in a press release.

📹📸 The US and Russia have both announced they will be holding nationwide emergency alert exercises on Wednesday.
Via @savunmaisleri
Video from Russia pic.twitter.com/KQFONsYGuU

— Mete Sohtaoğlu (@metesohtaoglu) October 4, 2023