Russia will test its ability to deploy tactical nuclear weapons, the Defense Ministry announced on Monday. The drill will be conducted βin the near futureβ and was ordered by President Vladimir Putin, the statement said.
Missile forces of the Southern Military District will be directly involved in the exercise. It will also require the participation of military aircraft and the Russian Navy, the ministry said.
The goal of the exercise is to iron out βthe practical aspects of the preparation and deployment of non-strategic nuclear weapons,β it added.
Russia would consider foreign deployments of nuclear weapons in Poland a primary military target, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has warned.
Warsaw is in talks with Washington on potentially hosting nuclear arms as part of a NATO program. President Andrzej Duda reiterated Polandβs willingness to host the weapons in an interview this week.
Moscow considers any expansion of NATOβs nuclear-sharing arrangement asΒ βdeeply destabilizingβΒ in nature,Β βand in fact threateningβΒ Russia, Ryabkov was quoted as saying by TASS on Thursday. This applies to joint missions, where non-nuclear members of the US-led bloc are trained to use American hardware, and even more so to the permanent stationing of such weaponsΒ βwhich hotheads in Warsaw are talking about,βΒ he said.
The West has been escalating the bellicose theme of a Russian βstrategic defeat” in Ukraine, while also concocting accusations of hybrid attacks by Moscow on the alliance as part of the overall anti-Russian hysteria.
NATO’s large-scale Steadfast Defender drills are a clear indication that the alliance is preparing for a “potential conflict” with Russia, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday.
