MURMANSK, August 23. /TASS/. Russian and foreign nuclear monitoring stations have not detected any radiation spikes following an explosion at the Severodvinsk naval testing range in the Russian Arkhangelsk Region, Special Presidential Representative for Environmental Activities, Environment and Transport Sergei Ivanov told reporters on Friday.

"Speaking about the ecological situation, there are many nuclear monitoring stations not only in Russia, but also in the neighboring countries, Norway and Finland. Not a single one of these stations detected a radiation spike," he said.

The presidential envoy also added that he is surprised by the comparisons drawn between the Severodvinsk tragedy and the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster.

"I am somewhat puzzled when this accident, a tragedy, is compared with Chernobyl by its consequences or when they say that Rosatom [Russian State Nuclear Energy Corporation — TASS] was testing nuclear weapons in the White Sea," he added.

The accident occurred at a military testing range near Severodvinsk in the Arkhangelsk Region on August 8. The Russian Defense Ministry initially said that two people died in the accident involving a liquid-fuel jet engine. Later regional authorities reported that six more people had been hospitalized after the accident. On August 10, Rosatom said that five employees were killed and three more were hospitalized.