Putin orders tactical nuclear weapon drills to deter the West
Russia said on Monday it would practice the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons as part of a military exercise, after what Moscow said were threats from France, Britain and the United States.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Russia has repeatedly warned of rising nuclear risks — warnings which the US says it has to take seriously, though US officials say they have seen no change in Russia’s nuclear posture.
Russia says the US 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, some of which are being used against Russian territory.
Russia’s defence ministry said it would hold military drills, including practicing the preparation and deployment of non-strategic nuclear weapons. President Vladimir Putin ordered the exercises, the ministry added.
“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.
It added that missile forces in the Southern Military District, aviation and the navy will take part.
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 US 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.
Russia has about 1,558 non-strategic nuclear warheads, according to the Federation of American Scientists, though there is uncertainty about exact figures 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 in the way that Russia has.
