The Russian Ministry of Defence announced on Friday that its Armed Forces were conducting drills involving Yars mobile nuclear missile launchers.
Russia’s MoD said the launcher crews in at least two different regions were set to travel more than 62 miles and practice camouflage and deployment.
And more similar drills are to come in the near future involving other missile units, the ministry added.
These launchers are believed to be able to fit RS-24 Yars, thermonuclear armed intercontinental ballistic missiles part of the Russian armament since 2011.
This came after Russia and its closest ally in Europe, Belarus, launched drills in mid-June intended to train troops in tactical nuclear weapons, a move likely aiming to discourage the West from ramping up support for war-torn Ukraine.
Also last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said there was “no need” for the use of nuclear weapons against the West – for the time being.
Asked whether he should hold a “nuclear pistol to the temple” of the Western world over Ukraine as he attended the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, the Russian President replied: “The use is possible in an exceptional case – in the event of a threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country. I don’t think that such a case has come. There is no such need.”
Referring to the nuclear doctrine enshrined by Russia in 2020, he added: “But this doctrine is a living tool and we are carefully watching what is happening in the world around us and do not exclude making some changes to this doctrine. This is also related to the testing of nuclear weapons.”
The doctrine states that nuclear weapons could be deployed by Russia in response to an attack using nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction. They could also be used “when the very existence of the state is put under threat” even through the use of conventional weapons.
Putin added that, “if necessary”, Russia will conduct nuclear tests, but so far there hasn’t been the need for them.
Only a few weeks prior, after some Western countries allowed Ukraine to use long-range weapons they had supplied on sensitive targets on the Russian soil, Putin had warned the “constant escalation” by the West could lead to “grave consequences”, particularly for small countries in Europe.
