To counter the Western threats, Russia said on Tuesday that the Russian troops along with the Belarusian forces have started the second stage of drills to practice the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons.
Russia accused the US and its NATO allies of pushing the world towards a nuclear war as they are supplying billion-dollar mass destruction weapons to Ukraine only to harm Russia. They aim to instigate the war instead of bringing peace to the region.
Since the beginning of the Russian military action against Ukraine in February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said Russia could use nuclear weapons to defend itself in extreme situations. Last month Russia also exercised nuclear drills.
In the first stage of the drills, Russian troops trained how to arm and deploy Iskander missiles, while the air force trained how to arm Kinzhal hypersonic missiles.
The second stage, announced on Tuesday, involved working out joint training of Russian and Belarusian units “for the combat use of non-strategic nuclear weapons,” the defence ministry said.
“The exercises are aimed at maintaining the readiness of personnel and equipment of units for the combat use of non-strategic nuclear weapons of Russia and Belarus in order to unconditionally ensure the sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the ministry said.
As per the Federation of American Scientists, Russia and the US are the world’s largest nuclear hoarders with 88% of the world’s nuclear weapons,
Notably, “Tactical nuclear weapons” nuclear weapons are generally less powerful than the “strategic” nuclear weapons that are designed to destroy the entire Moscow, Washington and other major cities around the world.
The US may have to deploy more strategic nuclear weapons in coming years to deter growing threats from Russia, China and other adversaries, a senior White House aide said on Friday.
