Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday organised a large-scale exercise involving the country’s strategic nuclear forces, including missile tests. The exercise came on the heels of the suspension of Putin’s planned summit with US President Donald Trump on Ukraine.
A statement released by the Kremlin gave details of the exercises, which covered all elements of Moscow’s nuclear triad (air, land and sea-based nuclear capability). As part of the exercises, a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile was test-fired from the Plesetsk launch facility in northwest Russia and a Sineva intercontinental ballistic missile was successfully launched from a submarine in the Barents Sea. The exercises also involved Tu-95 strategic bombers firing long-range cruise missiles.
Procedures for the Use of Nuclear Weapons Implemented
While the Kremlin explained that the exercises were testing the skills of military command structures, the Chief of the General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov, clarified the main purpose of the exercises in a video-linked presentation to Putin:“implement procedures for authorising the use of nuclear weapons.”
The exercise took place with Putin watching large screens featuring Gerasimov and Defence Minister Andrey Belousov. The presence of the trio in positions that would play a critical role in the launch of nuclear weapons in the event of a possible conflict revealed the seriousness of the manoeuvres. Putin emphasised that the exercises were planned in advance.
Trump Suspended the Summit: doesn’t Want “Waste of Time”
These nuclear drills came just hours after US President Donald Trump suspended a planned quick meeting with Putin in the Hungarian capital Budapest. Trump said on Tuesday that he froze the plan because he did not want the meeting to be a “waste of time”.
This decision followed a telephone conversation between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Lavrov’s statements on Tuesday, in which he made it clear that Russia was opposed to an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, had dampened expectations for the summit.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphasised on Wednesday that the planned Putin-Trump summit must be thoroughly prepared in order to be productive. “No one wants to waste time: Neither President Trump nor President Putin. But effectiveness always requires preparation,” Peskov said, referring to the preparatory process.
