MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/. A new National Defense Control Center officially started operation in Russia on Monday, in line with a decree signed by Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu.

“The establishment of the center is an important step towards forming a single information space for solving tasks in the interests of the country’s defense,” Shoigu said.

The new center comprises the Control Center of Strategic Nuclear Forces (which oversees issues of use of weapons of mass destruction), the Combat Control Center (which analyses threats) and the Daily Activities Control Center (which deals with procurement issues).

Shoigu stressed that the center is a new tool which “will allow conducting a continuous analysis of the environment and developing means of responding towards changes and rapidly coordinating the activity of federal bodies of the executive power in the defense sphere.”

The decision on setting up the center was approved by Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 8, 2013.