MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia said on Tuesday its troops began the second stage of tactical nuclear drills with Belarusian troops. Moscow cited threats from Western powers as the reason.
Russia accuses the United States and its European allies of pushing the world to nuclear confrontation. They allege that weapons given to Ukraine are used against Russian territory.
President Vladimir Putin, since February 24, 2022, has threatened the use of nuclear weapons to defend Russia. The West dismisses these threats as sabre-rattling.
Russia last month explicitly linked the nuclear drills ordered by Putin to what it said were “provocative statements and threats by certain Western officials against the Russian Federation”.
In the first stage of the drills, Russian troops trained how to arm and deploy Iskander missiles, while the air force trained how to arm Kinzhal hypersonic missiles.
The second stage, announced on Tuesday, involved working out joint training of Russian and Belarusian units “for the combat use of non-strategic nuclear weapons”, the defence ministry said.
“The situation on the European continent is quite tense, which is provoked every day by new decisions and actions of European capitals hostile to Russia, and above all by Washington,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when asked about the drills.
“Therefore, of course, such exercises and maintaining combat readiness are very important for us.”
On the other hand, critics view them as provocative. These drills could prompt a new arms race in the region. Therefore, international diplomatic efforts are essential to mitigate risks.
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