Putin Orders Military to Hold Nuclear Weapon Drills

This article originally appeared on Antiwar.com and was republished with permission.

Guest post by Dave DeCamp

The Kremlin said on Monday that Russia will hold drills simulating the use of tactical nuclear weapons in response to the latest provocations from the West.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov pointed to comments from Western officials about sending troops to Ukraine to fight Russian forces. Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron reaffirmed his view that deploying NATO soldiers shouldn’t be ruled out despite the risk of nuclear war.

“They talked about the readiness and even the intention to send armed contingents to Ukraine, that is, to actually put NATO soldiers in front of the Russian military,” Peskov said.

The announcement of the nuclear drills also comes after British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Ukraine was allowed to use British-provided weapons to hit targets inside Russia. The UK has been providing Ukraine with Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of 155 miles. A German military leak recently revealed that British soldiers are “on the ground” in Ukraine, helping fire the missiles.

Russia’s Defense Ministry also referred to “provocative statements and threats against Russia by certain Western officials” when announcing the nuclear drills. “During the exercises, a set of measures will be carried out to practice the issues of preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons,” the Ministry said.

The drills will be conducted by Russian military forces based in the Southern Military District, whose headquarters are in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don. The Defense Ministry said the exercises would begin in the “immediate future” and would involve “aircraft and naval forces.”

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