The complex is mostly empty, but there is a theater that shows a documentary about the Cold War, and souvenir stands are being installed. Ticket prices are $9.75 for students, $19.50 for adults and $39 for foreigners who take an English-language tour. Visits are allowed only by advance arrangement.
Plans call for construction in the complex of a replica of a central combat management facility, said Olga Arkharova, the museum's director. A military-themed restaurant also is planned.
"The task of our complex, which is called Confrontation, is to preserve this facility as a reminder and a warning that situations like this should be prevented forever," Arkharova said. "The idea we want to present to the children and the adults is that we want to have an open and frank dialogue with other countries, to prevent the world from entering another situation where we're forced to build facilities like this."
Arkharova's explanation fits with a sympathetic interpretation of Russian President Vladimir V. Putin's recent behavior. He has alternated between harsh complaints about Bush administration policies and apparent efforts to promote cooperation, all while his aides say he is aiming for a dialogue that recognizes Russia's national interests.
In recent months, Putin has fiercely criticized U.S. plans to install missile defenses in Eastern Europe. Washington says the system is meant to counter missiles that Iran may develop, but Moscow expresses fear that it is part of a long-term effort to undercut Russia's nuclear deterrent.
At the Group of 8 summit of leading industrialized nations early this month in Germany, Putin suddenly changed tack, suggesting that Russia and the U.S. cooperate in an antimissile system making use of a large radar system in the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan. The proposal appeared to puncture, at least for now, talk of a rapid deterioration in relations.
While playing up the chilling nature of the Confrontation museum, its operators do not make it precisely clear just how the facility was used.
Arkharova said that it was mainly built to house the civilian Communications Ministry in case of nuclear war, and that it included a backup central post office. Literature in English for tourists describes it as having been built "for providing operational safety of the command post of one of the armed forces divisions."
Alexandrov, the tour guide, said that in the event of war, Moscow's antiaircraft headquarters would have been located here.
