russia to conduct tactical nuclear weapons exercises - russian defense ministry

russia to conduct tactical nuclear weapons exercises - russian defense ministry

Kyiv  •  UNN

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Russia will conduct exercises with the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons in response to "threats from the West.

 The Russian General Staff has begun preparations for an exercise  to practice the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons in the near future. This was reported on Monday by the Russian Ministry of Defense, UNN reported. 

 On the instructions of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, in order to increase the readiness of non-strategic nuclear forces to perform combat missions, the General Staff has begun preparations for the upcoming exercise with missile formations of the southern military district with the involvement of aviation and naval forces

- the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Reportedly, the exercise will include "a set of measures to practise the preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons." 

According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the exercise is aimed at maintaining the readiness of personnel and equipment of units for the combat use of non-strategic nuclear weapons to respond and "to unconditionally ensure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Russian state in response to provocative statements and threats by certain Western officials against the Russian Federation.

On April 3, the Russian dictator's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, called "dangerous" and "escalating tensions" the statements by British Foreign Secretary David Cameron about the possibility of strikes on Russia and French President Emmanuel Macron about the possibility of sending Western troops to Ukraine.

Context

Earlier, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said during a visit to Kyiv that Ukraine has the right to strike at Russian territory with British weapons.

And French President Emmanuel Macron said that he does not rule out sending ground troops to Ukraine and that to rule it out a priori is to fail to learn the lessons of the last two years.