Russian troops began practicing major exercises to ensure troops’ readiness for the potential deployment of tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield, as Moscow warned against an encroaching threat from Western allies.
The Russian Ministry of Defense published a video Tuesday of troops practicing affixing missiles and warheads onto fighter jets and on the backs of armored trucks equipped with missile-firing systems.
The ministry said in a Telegram post that Russian troops had launched the first stage of “practical testing” of tactical nuclear weapons in the southern military district, which includes Russia’s southwestern regions, including those that border Ukraine.
Troops are training in missile formations to load vehicles with Iskander ballistic missiles and then drive them to designated areas in a mock test. Aviation personnel practiced equipping Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and special warheads onto fighter jets and flying them to designated zones.
“The ongoing exercise is aimed at maintaining the readiness of personnel and equipment of units for the combat use of non-strategic nuclear weapons to respond and in order to unconditionally ensure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Russian state in response to provocative statements and threats of individual Western officials against the Russian Federation,” the Russian Ministry of Defense said in the release on Telegram.
The exercises are likely to exacerbate tensions with the U.S. and renew fears that Russia is prepared to deploy tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Read more at Thehill.com
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