Russia Continues to Flex Its “Nuclear Muscles”

On October 26, Russia conducted a training of land, sea and air strategic deterrent forces with practical launches of ballistic and cruise missiles with nuclear warheads. The drills included the launch of test missiles from the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East and from the Barents Sea in the Arctic.

The nuclear exercises were held against the background of Moscow’s claims of a “dirty bomb” that Ukraine is allegedly planning to explode. The President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, headed the exercises of the strategic nuclear forces.

He repeated all his favorite fables, also mentioning the USA, “biological weapon” and the “dirty bomb”. Against the background of the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine and the war crimes of Russian troops, he also accused the world community of breaking the legal mechanisms of strategic stability and introducing “unilateral sanctions against those who disagree with its policy.”

Russia’s “Grom” (“Thunder”) nuclear exercises usually involve large-scale maneuvers of strategic nuclear forces that include the launch of operational missiles. In 2021, they were canceled, and at the beginning of this year, on the eve of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, they were restored again. After that, on February 27, Putin announced that he put the deterrence forces in what he called “a special regime of combat duty.”

Russia has already lost the strategic war, the initiative has passed to Ukraine, and the Kremlin by nuclear “exercises”, is trying to use its main trump card — the threat of using nuclear weapons.

The very rhetoric about nuclear weapons undermines international peace and security and poses a threat to the whole world, not just Ukraine. Putin’s nuclear threats should be taken seriously, because no one could have imagined that a real terrible war would break out in Europe about a year ago.

Ukraine relies on the help of its allies, primarily the United States. The USA has warned Russia more than once at the highest level that the response would be very serious and it would be the biggest Russia’s mistake.