Russia announced on Monday (6) that it will simulate the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons as part of a military exercise, following what Moscow said were threats from France, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Russia has repeatedly warned of rising nuclear risks — warnings that the U.S. says it has to take seriously, even though U.S. officials say they have seen no change in Russia’s nuclear posture.
Vladimir Putin’s government claims that the United States and its European allies are bringing the world to the brink of confrontation between nuclear powers by supporting Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars worth of weapons, some of which are being used against Russian territory.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it would carry out military exercises, including practices for preparation and deployment for use of non-strategic nuclear weapons.
The Ministry added that the exercises were ordered by President Vladimir Putin.
“During the exercise, a set of measures will be carried out to practice the issues of preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons,” the ministry said.
The Missile Forces of the Southern Military District, the Air Force and the Navy will participate, the Ministry of Defense said.
The exercise aims to ensure Russia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty “in response to provocative statements and threats by certain Western officials against the Russian Federation,” it said.
Russia and the United States are by far the world’s largest nuclear powers, possessing more than 10,600 of the world’s 12,100 nuclear warheads.
China has the third largest nuclear arsenal, followed by France and the United Kingdom.
Russia possesses about 1,558 non-strategic nuclear warheads, according to the Federation of American Scientists, although there is uncertainty about the exact numbers for such weapons due to a lack of transparency.
No power has used nuclear weapons in war since the United States unleashed the first atomic bomb attacks on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
Major nuclear powers routinely check their nuclear weapons, but very rarely publicly link such exercises to specific perceived threats, as Russia has done.
War movements
NATO, created in 1949 to provide collective security against the Soviet Union, is currently carrying out the “Steadfast Defender” exercise, the largest since the end of the Cold War.
NATO did not say whether it would include the testing of any nuclear elements.
Illustration shows soldier dolls with the NATO logo and colors of the Russian flag / 02/13/2022 REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
A NATO nuclear command exercise in 1983 raised fears at the highest levels of the Kremlin that the United States was preparing for a surprise nuclear attack.
Putin has faced calls within Russia from some hardliners to change Russia’s nuclear doctrine, which sets out the conditions under which Russia would use a nuclear weapon, although Putin said last year that he saw no need for change.
In general terms, the doctrine says that such a weapon would be used in response to an attack with nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction, or the use of conventional weapons against Russia “when the very existence of the State is threatened”.
Putin calls the war part of a centuries-old battle with the West that he says humiliated Russia after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 by expanding NATO and encroaching on what Moscow considers to be Russia’s historic sphere of influence.
Ukraine and its Western backers say the war is an imperial-style land grab by a corrupt dictatorship.
Western leaders have vowed to work toward the defeat of Russian forces in Ukraine while ruling out any deployment of NATO personnel there.
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