Tensions with NATO remain unresolved. Now Russia is holding a maneuver with missiles that can also be equipped with nuclear warheads.
Amid severe tensions with the West, nuclear power Russia has held a ballistic missile maneuver. President Vladimir Putin started the exercise on Saturday from the Kremlin, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the Interfax agency in Moscow.
The Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko was also there. He had already traveled to the Russian capital for talks on Friday. The politicians were seen at a large table in state media photos.
The Russian Defense Ministry announced the maneuver on Friday. It should therefore have been planned in advance. The aim is to test the strategic nuclear weapons for their reliability. According to the Kremlin, the army fired ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. In addition, a hypersonic missile of the Kinzhal (dagger) type was successfully tested.
Russia tests missiles several times a year. The country and the US are by far the two largest nuclear powers in the world.
Proving grounds in the south and east
According to the Kremlin, one exercise was held at a test site in the Astrakhan region in the south of the country, another on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the far east of the giant empire. In addition, warships of the Black Sea Fleet and the Northern Fleet were involved.
Peskov said on Friday that Putin would oversee the maneuver from the command post. It was therefore speculated whether the 69-year-old head of state would fly to the exercises. The maneuver was held parallel to the Munich Security Conference.
Russian maneuvers near Ukraine have met with criticism in the West. The Ministry of Defense recently announced that its troops should return to their locations after the end of exercises. That was doubted by the USA and NATO. Russia is demanding security guarantees from the West because it sees itself threatened by the US military and the weapons in Europe.
The tests took place in parallel with a major maneuver in neighboring Belarus on the border with Ukraine, which was scheduled to end on Sunday. According to the Belarusian Defense Ministry, military attachés from 16 countries visited a training ground in the southwest on Saturday, including Ukraine and the United States.
Source: Stern
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