Russia will hold exercises with tactical nuclear weapons “in the near future”, writes the Russian Ministry of Defense.
During the exercise, preparation and use of nuclear weapons will be practiced.
– Russia does that with some regularity, says Oscar Jonsson, PhD in Russian warfare at the Norwegian Defense Academy.
The Ministry of Defense writes that the exercise is taking place on the order of the supreme commander of the Russian forces and that the General Staff has already started to prepare. Russia’s commander-in-chief is President Vladimir Putin.
The exercise will take place both in the air and at sea in the southern military district, which, among other things, borders Ukraine and also includes the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula.
Furthermore, Russia claims that the exercise “is aimed at maintaining the readiness of personnel and equipment, as well as as a response to “provocative statements and threats by individual Western officials against the Russian Federation.”.
The Expert: A way to show off one’s weapons
Oscar Jonsson, PhD in Russian warfare at the Norwegian Defense Academy, believes that Russia does this type of exercise regularly.
– But it takes on a different tone when about a month ago there was a revelation from CCN that the US regime believes that there is about a 50 percent probability that Russia would use them, Jonsson says.
At the same time, he believes that much of Russia’s war in Ukraine takes place in the “shadow of nuclear weapons”.
– This means that the West has been cautious about how to support Ukraine, with the fear that Russia will use nuclear weapons, says Jonsson and adds:
– One way for Russia to remind of the existence of nuclear weapons is to practice with them.
Tactical nuclear weapons are distinguished from strategic nuclear weapons, often a smaller charge that can be used by, among other things, ordinary fighter aircraft. They can also equip artillery shells, dive bombs and mines.