Russian Tactical Nuke Drills Aim To Rattle NATO

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that the military would hold drills involving tactical nuclear weapons — the first time such an exercise has been publicly announced by Moscow, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Moscow’s defense doctrine envisages a nuclear response to an atomic strike or even an attack with conventional weapons that “threaten the very existence of the Russian state.” I Photo: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Facebook

Unlike nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles that can destroy entire cities, tactical nuclear weapons for use against troops on the battlefield are less powerful and can have a yield as small as about 1 kiloton.

The US bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II was 15 kilotons.

Unlike strategic weapons, which have been subject to arms control agreements between Moscow and Washington, tactical weapons never have been limited by any such pacts, and Russia hasn’t released their numbers or any other specifics related to them.

Last year, Russia moved some of its tactical nuclear weapons into Belarus, an ally that neighbors Ukraine and NATO members Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania.

Moscow’s defense doctrine envisages a nuclear response to an atomic strike or even an attack with conventional weapons that “threaten the very existence of the Russian state.”

That vague wording has led some pro-Kremlin Russian experts to urge Putin to sharpen it to force the West to take the warnings more seriously. Putin said last fall that he sees no reason for such a change.

“There is no situation in which anything would threaten Russian statehood and the existence of the Russian state,” he said. “I think that no person of sober mind and clear memory could have an idea to use nuclear weapons against Russia.”