Military officials in Moscow say the inclusion of a tactical nuclear weapons scenario in a Russia military exercise is in response to provocative threats from the West.
Reuters reports that unnamed Russian defence ministry officials said the exercise had been ordered by President Vladimir Putin, and would test the readiness of nonstrategic nuclear forces to perform combat missions.
This would include practice for the preparation and deployment for use of nonstrategic nuclear weapons, the defence ministry said. Missile formations in the Southern Military District and naval forces will take part.
Reuters quotes the ministry as saying: ‘During the exercise, a set of measures will be carried out to practise the issues of preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons.’
The exercise was intended to ensure Russia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty ‘in response to provocative statements and threats by certain Western officials against the Russian Federation’, the ministry said.
Reuters notes that Russia has repeatedly said that remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron about a possible French intervention in Ukraine are extremely dangerous.
[Photo: Soviet OTR-21 Tochka missile. Capable of firing a 100-kiloton nuclear warhead a distance of 185 km by By Mil.ru, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=67624005]