Russia recently announced a planned exercise involving the practice deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in southern Russia, in response to perceived threats from France, Britain, and the United States. President Vladimir Putin stated that this exercise was nothing unusual and was just a part of regular training. The Russian defense ministry explicitly linked the nuclear exercise to “provocative” statements made by Western officials, prompting Russia to take this measure to defend itself against potential threats.
Putin mentioned that Russia had transferred some tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus last year, marking the first time such warheads had been moved outside of Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko confirmed that this was the third training exercise of its kind, as they synchronized their actions with Russia. There is still uncertainty about the exact number and nature of the non-strategic nuclear weapons that Russia has supplied to Belarus, as there is a lack of transparency on the matter.
Russia and the United States are the world’s biggest nuclear powers, owning the majority of the world’s nuclear warheads. China, France, and Britain also have considerable nuclear arsenals, with Russia possessing about 1,558 non-strategic nuclear warheads according to the Federation of American Scientists. There are doubts among arms control experts regarding the weapons held by Belarus and how they are stored, as creating storage, security, and barracks for such a deployment usually takes time.
No nuclear weapons have been used in war since the U.S. bombed the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Despite Russia’s plans for nuclear exercises involving non-strategic weapons, the Pentagon stated that there had been no change in Russia’s disposition of its strategic nuclear forces. This statement was made in response to what the Pentagon described as “irresponsible rhetoric” from Moscow regarding their plans for nuclear deployment exercises.
Putin emphasized that these exercises were a regular part of military training and that there was nothing unusual about them. He mentioned that Russia regularly conducts these exercises in several stages, with Belarusian colleagues joining in during the second stage. It remains unclear whether the Russian Defense Ministry’s 12th Main Directorate, which controls Russian nuclear weapons, is also present in Belarus, according to Western experts.
Overall, the planned exercise involving the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in southern Russia is part of Russia’s defense strategy in response to perceived threats from Western countries. Despite concerns and uncertainties surrounding the nature of these weapons and their storage, Russia continues with its military training exercises as part of its ongoing national defense strategy.
