Russia Holds Nuclear Exercises Under Putin’s Watchful Eye

Russian President Vladimir Putin attended training on Wednesday from a control centre for Russian forces carrying out a so-called nuclear attack. Among other things, cruise and ballistic missiles, including long-range ones, were fired.

Submarines and strategic bombers also participated in the exercises, the Kremlin reports, according to state media.

During training, the Russian army fired rockets from the Kamchatka Peninsula in the far east of the country. Missiles have also been fired in the Barents Sea, north of Russia and Norway. Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu told Putin that the armed forces were carrying out “a massive nuclear strike” in response to a possible nuclear attack by the enemy. The West was informed in advance about the army exercises.

Putin also met with intelligence officials from several former Soviet states. Russia has recently claimed, without providing evidence, that Ukraine is working on a so-called dirty bomb. The Russian leader repeated the allegation during the meeting. Putin, who decided to invade Ukraine in February, said that the risk of conflict in the world and the region is high and that the security of key infrastructure locations needs to be strengthened.

A dirty bomb is a weapon aimed at dispersing radioactive material. The explosive itself is usually not a nuclear weapon but an ordinary bomb. In the West, there are fears that Russia is planning to use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine.