In the middle of the war, Moscow announces a new military exercise. However, there is no concrete evidence that practice is also taking place with missiles equipped with nuclear warheads.
More than two years after the start of the war of aggression against Ukraine, Russia has announced an exercise of its tactical nuclear forces on the orders of President Vladimir Putin.
“During the exercise, a number of activities will be carried out to practice the preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons,” said the Defense Ministry in Moscow. However, there was no mention in the announcement that the maneuver would also involve practicing with missiles that actually carry nuclear warheads. It was initially unclear when and where exactly the exercise, in which the southern military district and the naval forces are involved, would begin.
Russia had already had its nuclear forces train without nuclear warheads in the past. In October, for example, two intercontinental ballistic missiles and several cruise missiles were fired for training and deterrence purposes.
Moscow justified the now announced exercise with supposedly “provocative statements and threats from individual Western officials against the Russian Federation.” When asked by journalists, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later confirmed that the specific reason for this was, among other things, statements by French head of state Emmanuel Macron, who does not want to fundamentally rule out the deployment of Western ground troops in Ukraine. Such statements showed “the intention to send armed contingents to Ukraine,” Peskov claimed. In fact, in a recent interview, Macron simply said: “If the Russians were to break through the front lines, if there was a Ukrainian request – which is not the case today – then we should legitimately ask ourselves the question.” Nevertheless, he has already received criticism for his words within Europe.
Since the beginning of the war, Russian representatives have repeatedly tried to stir up fears of a nuclear war in the West and thus weaken international support for Ukraine.
Source: Stern
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