DRussian President Vladimir Putin has overseen a ballistic missile military exercise to train a “massive nuclear” counterattack. “A training exercise was carried out under the leadership of the Supreme Commander of the Russian Armed Forces Vladimir Putin,” the Kremlin said on Wednesday. Ground, sea and air units of the nuclear deterrent forces were deployed and ballistic missiles and cruise missiles were fired. However, during such exercises the missiles are not equipped with nuclear warheads.
Training for “enemy nuclear attack”
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the maneuver was intended to train a “massive nuclear strike by the Strategic Offensive Forces in response to an enemy nuclear attack.”
According to the Kremlin, the exercises included an intercontinental ballistic missile from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in the north of the country and a ballistic missile from a submarine from the Barents Sea. Tu-95MS aircraft also fired cruise missiles.
The exercise took place on the day on which the upper house of the Russian parliament decided to withdraw Moscow’s ratification of the Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). The State Duma had already voted for this step before the Federation Council. The corresponding law now has to be signed by Putin, which there is little doubt about.
Army expansion announced
Meanwhile, the Russian Security Council announced an increase in the size of the Russian army. The reason is the war against Ukraine and the expansion of NATO’s military potential. Former President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy secretary of the Security Council, said this, according to Russian news agencies.
According to him, a new army corps, 7 divisions, 19 brigades, 49 regiments and a naval flotilla will also be set up in 2024. He did not give any figures on staffing levels. Russia wants to increase its armed forces from currently around one million soldiers to 1.5 million men over the next few years. The new soldiers should be recruited primarily through temporary contracts, said Medvedev. He was commissioned by Putin to coordinate this.
The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty calls for an end to all nuclear weapons tests after the United States and the Soviet Union and other nuclear powers carried out more than 2,000 nuclear tests. The contract was submitted for signature in 1996. However, it has not yet come into force because it has not been ratified by a sufficient number of countries. Russia, but also France and Great Britain have ratified the agreement, but the USA and several other countries have not.
Russia and the USA together have almost 90 percent of all nuclear weapons in the world. Since Russia’s offensive in Ukraine began a year and a half ago, there have been concerns about the possible use of nuclear weapons in the conflict. Putin mobilized Russia’s nuclear forces shortly after the start of the conflict and repeatedly cited Russia’s nuclear doctrine, which envisages the use of nuclear weapons in the event of an “existential threat” to the state.
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