Amid rising tensions with the West over the Ukraine war, Russia on Tuesday conducted a major exercise involving its nuclear forces, simulating a response to an enemy’s first strike.
President Vladimir Putin emphasized the need for modern strategic forces, stating, “We will maintain nuclear forces at the necessary level of sufficiency” without entering a new arms race.
The drills included test-firing a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile from Plesetsk, and ICBMs launched from the Novomoskovsk and Knyaz Oleg submarines in the Barents Sea and Sea of Okhotsk. Nuclear-capable Tu-95 bombers also conducted practice launches of long-range cruise missiles, all reaching their intended targets.
This exercise follows warnings from Moscow about potential responses to Western support for Ukraine’s missile capabilities. Putin announced a new nuclear doctrine indicating that a conventional attack by a non-nuclear state backed by a nuclear power would be viewed as a joint attack, serving as a warning to the U.S. and its allies. The revised doctrine also includes provisions for the possible use of nuclear weapons in response to a significant air attack.