Russia has started to create a single defense center commanding all military and emergency operations, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Wednesday.

"We've started to create such a Center. We have already defined its principal shapes and parameters," Shoigu told a meeting held at Rzhevka firing range in the north-western Leningrad region.

According to the minister, the National State Defense Center will supervise strategic nuclear forces, military administration issues and everyday life of the Armed Forces.

It will also gather and analyze information about combat training, emergency situations in the armed forces as well as non- military-related emergencies.

Shoigu appointed Colonel General Pavel Popov, 56, as a head of the newly created body. Popov was Shoigu's deputy in the Emergency Ministry prior to Wednesday's promotion.

The National State Defense Center will embrace under one command the Emergency Ministry's situation center, General Staff's central operational station, atomic agency Rosatom's control room and departments of all other federal bodies dealing with possible crisis situations.

The new body will occupy a separate building currently under construction in Moscow.