Russia launches large-scale “nuclear exercises”

Military exercises started in the Ivanovo region (Russia). The Russian Federation is conducting maneuvers on the combat patrol routes of autonomous launchers of strategic complexes “Yars” (nuclear deterrent missile), Interfax reports.

About a thousand military personnel are involved in military exercises, more than 100 pieces of equipment are involved.

“Strategic rocket men are working out the issues of bringing missile systems to field positions, making marches up to 100 km long, dispersing units with a change in field positions, their engineering equipment, organizing camouflage and combat security,” the report says.

It is reported that the autonomous launchers of the Yars mobile ground-based missile system of the Teikovsky formation of the Strategic Missile Forces perform intensive maneuvering actions on combat patrol routes as part of the exercises,” the report says.

The Strategic Missile Forces is a branch of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, the main component of its strategic nuclear forces. The Strategic Missile Forces are intended for nuclear deterrence of possible aggression.

The basis of the grouping of the Strategic Missile Forces is modern complexes “Yars” in mine and mobile versions. “Yars” is capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to 11,000 km, it is equipped with a multiple warhead with maneuvering individual guidance units.

The threat of a nuclear strike

• The Kremlin said that they were not going to use nuclear weapons in the war with Ukraine, a nuclear strike would be launched only if “there is a threat to the existence of the state,” said Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
• The UN Secretary General said that the possibility of nuclear war cannot now be ruled out. After all, the President of the Russian Federation has already threatened with nuclear weapons.
• Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said that the Kremlin is considering a variety of options for possible retaliatory steps in the event of the deployment of NATO weapons near Russia’s borders. The option of deploying nuclear weapons in Belarus is not ruled out.
• The Pentagon reacted to Putin’s threats about nuclear weapons. According to the Pentagon official, US officials have no doubts that Putin will make such decisions. NATO noted that they are ready to protect themselves and their allies.
• Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said that if the Russian Federation uses nuclear weapons, the world will be plunged into a catastrophe.
• The US does not believe in the threat of Russian use of nuclear weapons, despite the recent escalation of Moscow’s rhetoric. A senior US Department of Defense official added that NATO territory was not yet threatened.