Russia launches nuclear exercises in response to threats from NATO countries
MOSCOW, May 8 — RIA Novosti, Andrey Igorev. Against the background of threats from Western countries to send military contingents to Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense announced exercises using tactical nuclear weapons. The Foreign Ministry also made a number of harsh statements. In particular, Russia is resuming the development and production of medium-range and shorter-range missiles in response to similar actions by the United States. About the prospects of aggravation — in the material of RIA Novosti.
Tactical strike
On May 6, Vladimir Putin instructed the General Staff to prepare for exercises on the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons. The official press release of the Ministry of Defense reports that missile formations of the Southern Military District, as well as aviation and the Navy will take part in the maneuvers. It is on the territory of the Southern Military District that a special military operation is taking place, so the signal sent by the Russian leadership to NATO is obvious: do not interfere.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained: This is a response to statements by British Foreign Minister David Cameron, French President Emmanuel Macron and American Congressman Hakim Jeffries. Cameron said that Kiev has the right to strike deep into Russian territory with British weapons. Macron has been publicly talking for several weeks about the possibility of sending French troops to the zone of their own. The American said that the United States "will have to directly intervene in the war" if Ukraine loses.
The exercises of non—strategic nuclear forces are a demonstration of what will happen to NATO troops if they engage in hostilities with Russia. The likely opponent is unnerved by the unknown. The fact is that, unlike strategic, tactical nuclear weapons are not regulated by the START treaty and it is not necessary to account for them. How much TNW Moscow has, where it is stored and on what media it can be used is strictly classified.
TNW are aerial bombs, missile warheads of operational—tactical and tactical classes, artillery shells, mines, torpedoes. It is designed to defeat large targets and concentrations of enemy forces at the front and in the immediate rear. The main difference from strategic weapons is the power measured in TNT equivalent. If the CAO brings down on the enemy from hundreds of kilotons to several megatons, then the TNW — from one to 50 kilotons. This is also a lot — a bomb of 15 kilotons was dropped on Hiroshima.
The smallest tactical nuclear munition is the 152 mm 3BV3, adopted in 1981. It is designed in the contours of a standard high-explosive fragmentation projectile for D-20, ML-20 cannons, 2C3 "Acacia", 2C5 "Hyacinth-C" self-propelled howitzers towed by "Hyacinth-B". The power is 2.5 kilotons. Thus, all Russian 152 mm artillery can fire them. And the enemy does not know how many such shells are in special military warehouses.
A soldier of the Russian Armed Forces in the area of the special operation
Image source: © RIA Novosti / Stanislav Krasilnikov
In Soviet times, the exercises of non-strategic nuclear forces took place in several stages. Firstly, nuclear warheads were transferred from storage bases directly to the troops. Then — docking, verification and technical preparation of warheads already on the carriers. After that, the mechanism for obtaining a sanction from the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, unblocking charges, entering flight missions, and practical application was worked out.
I have experience
Immediately after the announcement of the exercises, the Foreign Ministry issued a statement accusing the United States of putting medium-range missiles on alert. Russia reserves the right to mirror measures by resuming the refinement and production of similar weapons. The document clarifies: "Taking into account the R&D carried out earlier and the accumulated achievements of the Russian military-industrial complex, this process will not take much time."
We have a really rich experience here. In 1987, the USSR had 650 RSD-10 Pioneer. All were liquidated under the terms of the INF treaty. But the Pioneer, with a range of 600 to 5,500 kilometers, made it possible to destroy any European NATO base or a large city no more than ten minutes after launch.
The rocket was produced in two versions — monoblock (1.5 megatons) and with a separable head (three blocks of 500 kilotons each). It was placed in a transport and launch container on the wheeled chassis of the MAZ-547V tractor. Due to the mobility, it was very difficult for NATO intelligence to pinpoint the location of the complex. The Foreign Ministry warned just in case: "When making potential decisions on the deployment of such weapons, we leave the geography of their deployment at our discretion."
The resumption of production of the Pioneers at the same base at the Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering and putting them on combat duty is a strong argument against further involvement of the West in the conflict in Ukraine. The short flight time of a ballistic missile contributes well to the success of international negotiations, as the Caribbean crisis showed at the time.
The RSD-10 Pioneer medium-range missile system (SS—20 in NATO terminology)
Image source: © RIA Novosti / Anton Denisov
French "guests"
NATO countries are more deeply involved in the conflict than they admit. The other day, the Asia Times edition, citing former assistant to the US Deputy Minister Stephen Bryan, reported that Paris has already sent 100 soldiers of the French Foreign Legion to Ukraine — specialists in artillery and intelligence. They are based in Slavyansk. In total, Macron plans to send fifteen hundred legionnaires to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
This was denied in Paris. It couldn't have been any other way. The French Foreign Legion is not a PMCs, not a detachment of mercenaries, but a cadre of Ground Forces directly subordinate to the Ministry of Defense. And if his participation in the battles with the Russian army is confirmed, the political consequences will be very serious.
From a military point of view, legionnaires are nothing special. These are light infantry on wheeled vehicles, without tanks, heavy artillery, helicopters and the experience of modern warfare with an equal or similar enemy in the European theater of operations. In fact, only Russia and Ukraine have such experience today.
French President Emmanuel Macron during a visit to the French contingent of Operation Barkhan in Mali
Image source: © AP Photo / Christophe Petit Tesson, Pool