Amid soaring tensions with the West over its war in Ukraine, Russia on Tuesday launched a massive exercise of the country’s nuclear forces.
It test-fired missiles over thousands of kilometres in a simulated nuclear response to an enemy first strike.
“Given the growth of geopolitical tensions, the emergence of new external threats and risks, it is important to have modern strategic forces that are constantly ready for combat use” said Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I emphasise that we are not going to get involved in a new arms race, but we will maintain nuclear forces at the necessary level of sufficiency.”
The exercise involved Russia’s full nuclear range of ground-, sea-, and air-launched missiles.
As part of the drills, the military test-fired a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile from the Plesetsk launch pad at the Kura testing range on the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Defence Ministry said.
The Novomoskovsk and Knyaz Oleg nuclear submarines test-fired ICBMs from the Barents Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk, while nuclear-capable Tu-95 strategic bombers carried out practice launches of long-range cruise missiles.
The ministry said that all the missiles reached their designated targets.
The nuclear exercise comes after weeks of signals from Moscow to the West that it would respond if the United States and its allies allowed Kyiv to fire longer-range missiles deep into Russia.
Putin reinforced the message by announcing a new version of Russia’s nuclear doctrine.
It states that Moscow considers a conventional attack by a non-nuclear nation that is supported by a nuclear power to be a joint attack on the country — a clear warning to the US and other allies of Kyiv.
In a message intended to deter the West, Putin also said the revised document envisages the possible use of nuclear weapons in the case of a massive air attack.