Shoigu: Putin is leading the training for a retaliatory nuclear strike On October 26, nuclear weapons tests were conducted under the leadership of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, the response to a possible nuclear strike on Russia was being worked out. The military checked to what extent the Yars intercontinental ballistic missile, the Sineva ballistic missile and the air-launched missiles launched from the Tu-95MS conform to their characteristics. The US was warned about the exercises.
Training launches of ballistic and cruise missiles were conducted under the leadership of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Russian President Vladimir Putin. This was reported in the Kremlin.
It is noted that the work of land, sea and aviation strategic deterrence forces was checked.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in his report that the military was practicing a retaliatory strike during a nuclear attack against Russia. During the training, "the tasks of delivering a massive nuclear strike by strategic offensive forces in response to an enemy nuclear strike were worked out."
The order of the training was reported to Putin by the Chief of the General Staff, Army General Valery Gerasimov: "The following are involved in the training: the Yars mobile ground missile system of the Strategic Missile Forces; the Tula strategic missile submarine of the Northern Fleet; two Tu-95ms long-range strategic missile carriers."
The Yars intercontinental ballistic missile struck the Kura test site in Kamchatka from the Plesetsk state test cosmodrome. The Sineva ballistic missile was also launched there from the Barents Sea. Tu-95MS long-range aircraft carried out launches of air-launched cruise missiles.
"During the event, the level of preparedness of the military command bodies and the skills of the senior and operational staff in organizing the management of troops were checked," the Kremlin said in a statement.
It is noted that the tasks assigned to the Russian military have been fully completed: "All missiles have reached their targets, confirming the specified characteristics."
Forewarned means armed
The American authorities were warned about the conduct of these exercises. This was announced by Pentagon Press Secretary Patrick Ryder during a briefing. The broadcast was carried out by the press service of the US Department of Defense on Twitter.
"The United States has been notified, and as we emphasized earlier, these are Russia's usual annual exercises," Ryder said (quoted by Reuters).
He added that Washington "will continue to monitor" the maneuvers of Russian troops. The Pentagon spokesman stressed that the United States sees no signs that Russia plans to launch a nuclear strike or use a "dirty bomb" (low-power nuclear munition).
"We have no evidence that Russia has decided to use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons," Ryder said.
Previous exercises
The last exercises of the strategic deterrence forces took place five days before the start of Russia's special operation in Ukraine - on February 19. They were also led by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Then it was checked to what extent the military authorities, the launch crews, the crews of warships and strategic missile carriers are ready to perform their tasks.
In addition, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation checked the reliability of weapons of strategic nuclear and non-nuclear forces.
As part of the exercise, the military attacked sea and land targets, launching Dagger missiles (from MiG-31 fighters), a Kalibr cruise missile (from a small rocket ship) and a Zircon hypersonic missile (from a frigate at sea).
The Iskander ground-based cruise missile was tested in the Astrakhan Region, and Sineva and Yars ballistic missiles were launched from the Karelia submarine at the Kura test site in Kamchatka. Air-launched cruise missiles fired from strategic missile carriers of long-range aviation Tu-95MS hit targets at the Pemboy and Kura ranges.
Angelina Milchenko
