Russia will soon hold exercises to increase the combat readiness of its non-strategic nuclear forces, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Monday.
As stated in the announcement, the instruction to hold the exercises was given by Vladimir Putin. The General Staff has started preparing for exercises “with the missile formations of the Southern Military District, involving the aviation, as well as the navy.” It is stated that during the exercise “a set of measures will be taken to practically work out the issues of preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons”.
The ministry’s statement indicates that the combat use of such weapons will be developed “to ensure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Russian state in response to provocative statements and threats against the Russian Federation by certain Western officials.”
Non-strategic or tactical nuclear weapons are nuclear warheads that are delivered by relatively short-range missiles, rather than strategic intercontinental missiles, and that have relatively small yields, such as a few kilotons. Iskander missile systems can be used as tactical nuclear weapons. These weapons were also recently deployed in Belarus. Russia is estimated to have the largest stockpile of such weapons in the world. They have never been used on the battlefield.
Exercises involving tactical nuclear weapons took place in the USSR. Such exercises have not taken place in modern Russia. However, the newspaper “Financial Times” wrote that more than a decade ago there were war games based on the possible use of such weapons – and against a hypothetical Chinese aggression.
Russia. Photo: scanpix/AP
