Russia Preparing Exercises to Boost Readiness of Non-Strategic Nuclear Forces
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During the drills, the Russian armed forces will practice a set of activities for the preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday.
The General Staff of the Russian armed forces have started preparations for holding exercises aimed at boosting readiness of the non-strategic nuclear forces in the near future, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday, adding that the drills will involve missile units of Russia's Southern Military District.
"Upon instructions from the Supreme commander-in-chief of the Russian armed forces [President Vladimir Putin], the General Staff has begun preparations for holding exercises in the near future with missile units of the Southern Military District with the involvement of aviation, as well as naval forces, in order to increase the readiness of non-strategic nuclear forces to carry out combat missions," the ministry said in a statement.
"The exercise aims 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 Russia in response to provocative statements and threats of individual Western officials against Russia," the statement added.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov linked the drills to statements recently made by French President Emmanuel Macron, UK officials and a representative of the US Senate.
On Sunday, US House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in an interview with CBS that the United States will have to send troops to the Ukraine conflict zone in case Kiev is defeated.
Last week, Macron said in an interview with The Economist that he did not exclude the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine should Kiev send a request. UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron rejected the idea but said that Kiev had the right to use the weapons provided by the UK to attack the Russian territory.
Russian Missile Drills Linked to NATO Threat of Troop Deployment to Ukraine: Kremlin
Statements by the French President, UK officials and a representative of the US Senate about their readiness and intention to send military personnel to Ukraine require special attention and special measures, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday, commenting on the military drills.
“Actually, this is stated exhaustively in the statement of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. There is nothing to add there. If you ask me what statements of Western representatives we are talking about, it is obvious that we are talking about the statement of Mr Macron and the statement of the British representatives. You you know, they also added a representative of the US Senate, if I’m not mistaken, who spoke of readiness and even intention to send armed contingents to Ukraine, that is, to actually expose NATO soldiers to the Russian military,” Peskov said in response to a question on whether the announced exercises were connected to the threats.
"They require special attention and special measures," he added.
