The Russian military launched a series of ballistic missiles from land, submarines and bombers in a nuclear retaliation exercise to destroy the enemy.
"The drills with ground, sea and air units and combat vehicles of the nuclear deterrence forces were carried out under the direction of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin," the Kremlin announced on October 25.
The Russian Defense Ministry released a video on the same day, showing its forces launching an RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missile from the Kura training ground in Kamchatka, an R-29RMU Sineva ballistic missile from the Tula nuclear submarine, and a Tu-95MS bomber taking off to fire cruise missiles.
Russian forces conduct large-scale nuclear response drills on October 25. Video : Russian Ministry of Defense
Russian state television showed Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov briefing President Putin before giving the order to fire missiles during the drills.
Mr Shoigu stressed that the exercise was aimed at "launching a large-scale nuclear strike by strategic forces in response to an enemy nuclear attack".
According to Russia's nuclear doctrine, a counterattack is carried out when an enemy launches nuclear weapons against Russia, or uses conventional weapons that threaten the country's existence. In a counterattack, nuclear missiles will be fired at predetermined targets to destroy the enemy.
Russian officials said the drills were aimed at "testing the readiness of military command and control bodies". The drills were held hours after Russia's Federation Council (upper house of parliament) approved the cancellation of the nuclear test ban treaty.
The treaty, signed in 1996, bans all nuclear explosions, including direct nuclear weapons testing. However, it has never entered into force because several nuclear-armed powers, including the United States, have not ratified it.
The decision to scrap the nuclear test ban treaty needs to be signed by President Putin, who said earlier this month that he was “not ready to say” whether Russia would test nuclear weapons.
Russia said on October 25 that it would study US proposals to resume dialogue on nuclear arms control, but would not accept them unless the US “drops its hostile stance” towards it.
Under the New START treaty, the United States and Russia regularly inspect each other’s nuclear facilities and limit the number of warheads. However, President Putin announced in February that he was suspending participation in the New START treaty and banning the United States and NATO from inspecting its nuclear facilities.
Nguyen Tien (According to TASS, AFP )
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