Russia will hold military exercises in the near future that will include practicing the use of tactical nuclear weapons, AFP and Reuters reported, citing the Russian Defense Ministry.
The ministry specified that the exercise was ordered by President Vladimir Putin. It will test the readiness of non-strategic nuclear forces to carry out combat missions. The exercises will include working out the preparation and deployment for the use of non-strategic nuclear forces.
Missile forces from the Southern Military District and the Russian Navy will participate in the maneuvers. Their goal is to guarantee Russia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty “in response to provocative statements and threats by some Western representatives against the Russian Federation,” the ministry said, as quoted by Reuters.
The units whose readiness will be maintained are located near Ukraine, notes AFP.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to the worst relations between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, according to Russian and Western diplomats. Russia is portraying the war as a clash with the West, which Putin says has rebuffed Russian attempts to establish friendly relations since the collapse of the USSR and has tried to seize control of Ukraine while expanding NATO eastward. The West and Kiev, for their part, say they will not rest until Russian forces are defeated and portray the war as an attempt at imperial conquest aimed at bringing Ukraine back into Moscow’s orbit.
The Russian tactical nuclear exercises announced today are a response to statements by Western representatives about the possible deployment of NATO troops to Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today, as quoted by France Press and TASS.
French President Emmanuel Macron and representatives of Great Britain and the United States “spoke of readiness and even intention to send armed contingents to Ukraine, in other words to place NATO soldiers in front of the Russian army,” Peskov stressed.
“This is a completely new level of escalation of tension. This is unprecedented. And, of course, this requires special attention and special measures,” the Kremlin spokesman summed up.
Macron said recently that Western troops could be sent to Ukraine if Russian forces break through the front lines.
The Russian army and other special services are verifying information about the deployment of French Foreign Legion forces in Ukraine, Peskov added.
In addition, the Kremlin spokesman called “baseless” information published in the “Financial Times” that Russia is preparing acts of sabotage throughout Europe, preparing for a permanent conflict with the West.
Questions about whether Russian forces are using North Korean missiles in Ukraine should be addressed to the Ministry of Defense, Peskov said in response to a question put to him.
The US and other countries have accused North Korea of supplying Russia with weapons to be used on the battlefield in Ukraine. Last year, the two countries promised to deepen their military cooperation, Reuters recalls.
Medvedev has promised a nuclear strike on Western capitals if troops are sent to Ukraine
Russia will respond to the sending of Western troops to Ukraine with a nuclear strike on Washington, Paris and London, the Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, said at the same time.
“Sending their troops to the territory of Ukraine will lead to the direct entry of their countries into the war, to which we will have to respond. And, alas, not on the territory of Ukraine. … A global catastrophe will come,” Medvedev wrote in your Telegram channel.
He warned that Western elites will not escape Russia’s response to Capitol Hill, the Elysee Palace and 10 Downing Street. But the current infantile morons who seized power in the West simply do not want to understand,” Medvedev stressed.
Ukraine described the exercises announced by Russia as blackmail
Ukraine has criticized Russia’s plans to conduct exercises with tactical nuclear weapons, calling it “blackmail”, Reuters reported.
Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Andrii Yusov criticized the Russian plans as pure and simple continuation of blackmail with nuclear weapons.
“We see nothing new here except the information effect and statements… Nuclear blackmail is a constant practice of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s regime,” the Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman told national television.
#Putin #ordered #exercise #tactical #nuclear #weapons #Medvedev #threatens #Western #capitals #nuclear #strike
