Russia to practice tactical nuclear weapon scenario in drills to deter
West
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[May 06, 2024]
By Guy Faulconbridge
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia said on Monday it would hold a military
exercise that will include practice for the use of tactical nuclear
weapons after what the defense ministry said were provocative threats
from Western officials.
The ministry said the exercise was ordered by President Vladimir Putin
and would test the readiness of non-strategic nuclear forces to perform
combat missions.
The military drills will include practice for the preparation and
deployment for use of non-strategic nuclear weapons, the defense
ministry said. Missile formations in the Southern Military District and
naval forces will take part.
"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 exercise is aimed at ensuring Russia's territorial integrity and
sovereignty "in response to provocative statements and threats by
certain Western officials against the Russian Federation", it said.
It did not name the officials. But Russia has repeatedly said that
remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron about a possible French
intervention in Ukraine are extremely dangerous.
Russia says the United States and its European allies are pushing the
world to the brink of confrontation between nuclear powers by supporting
Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars of weapons in its fight against
the Russian forces that invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Nuclear powers routinely check their nuclear weapons but rarely publicly
link such exercises to specific perceived threats.
NUCLEAR RISKS
Since the war began, Russia has repeatedly warned of rising nuclear
risks - warnings which the United States says it has to take seriously
though U.S. officials say they have seen no change in Russia's nuclear
posture.
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Russia's President Vladimir Putin inspects a military exercise,
which tests the country's ability to deliver a massive retaliatory
nuclear strike by land, sea and air, via a video link from Moscow,
Russia October 25, 2023. Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Pool via REUTERS/
File Photo
Putin has faced calls inside Russia from some hardliners to change
Russia's nuclear doctrine, which sets out the conditions under which
Russia would use a nuclear weapon, though Putin said last year he
saw no need to change the doctrine.
Broadly, the doctrine says such a weapon would be used in response
to an attack using nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction, or
the use of conventional weapons against Russia "when the very
existence of the state is put under threat".
Putin warned the West in March that a direct conflict between Russia
and the U.S.-led NATO military alliance would mean the planet was
one step away from World War Three but said hardly anyone wanted
such a scenario.
Russia and the United States are by far the world's biggest nuclear
powers, holding more than 10,600 of the world's 12,100 nuclear
warheads. China has the third largest nuclear arsenal, followed by
France and Britain.
Putin casts the war as part of a centuries-old battle with the West
which he says humiliated Russia after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989
by enlarging NATO and encroaching on what Moscow considers to be
Russia's historical 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 for a defeat of Russian forces in Ukraine, while ruling out any
deployment of NATO personnel there.
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