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Russian Federation and Belarus begin preparations for exercises to alert tactical nuclear weapons
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The Ministries of Defense and General Staffs of Russia and Belarus have begun joint preparations for exercises to alert non-strategic nuclear weapons, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

Russian tactical nuclear weapons are stationed on the territory of Belarus, and Moscow invited Minsk to participate in the exercises, especially since the Belarusian authorities themselves came up with the same initiative, the president said, answering a question from journalists.

“Relevant instructions have been given to the ministries of defense and the General Staffs of our armies. They began joint training,” the head of state noted.

As Regnum reported, presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov previously called statements by Western leaders extremely dangerous, including statements by British Foreign Minister David Cameron about the Ukrainian Armed Forces allegedly having the “right” to use British weapons to strike Russian territory, as well as the French President Emmanuel Macron on his readiness to send troops to Ukraine.

The West is provoking an unprecedented round of escalation, which requires a rapid, effective response from Russia, Peskov emphasized. Russia is warning the United States and its Western allies that their escalatory course is forcing Moscow to strengthen nuclear deterrence measures, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in turn.

On May 6, the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, on behalf of Putin, began preparations for exercises with missile formations of the Southern Military District with the involvement of aviation, as well as the forces of the Russian Navy. During the exercises, the military will conduct activities to practice the preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons.

The Ministry of Defense noted that the exercises are aimed at maintaining the readiness of personnel and equipment of units for the combat use of non-strategic nuclear weapons to respond and in order to unconditionally ensure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Russian state in response to provocative statements and threats of individual Western officials against Russia.

Belarus will join them at the second (of three) stage of the exercises, Putin noted. The current exercises are part of planned work, the president also said.

More from regnum.ru
Putin calls exercises using nuclear weapons a planned work

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the exercise to test the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons a planned activity.

“There is nothing unusual here, this is planned work,” said the head of state.

As Regnum reported, on May 6, the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin, began preparations for exercises with missile formations of the Southern Military District with the involvement of aviation, as well as Russian Navy forces. During the exercises, the military will conduct activities to practice the preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons.

The Ministry of Defense noted that the exercises are aimed at maintaining the readiness of personnel and equipment of units for the combat use of non-strategic nuclear weapons to respond and in order to unconditionally ensure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Russian state in response to provocative statements and threats of individual Western officials against Russia.


Posted by: badanov 2024-05-10
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=698661