Ahmad 
President Vladimir Putin has instructed the Russian Ministry of Defense to begin preparations for military exercises on the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons.
“On the instructions of the Supreme Commander of the Russian Armed Forces, and in order to increase the readiness of non-strategic nuclear forces to carry out combat missions, the General Staff has begun preparations for an exercise as soon as possible with the missile formations of the Southern Military District with the participation of aviation as well as naval forces,” the Russian defense said in a statement.
During the exercise, “a range of activities will be carried out to train in the preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons”, the statement said.
The Russian defense explained that the exercise aims to “maintain the readiness of personnel and equipment of units involved in the combat use of non-strategic nuclear weapons, in order to respond and to unconditionally ensure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Russian state in response to provocative statements and threats issued by some Western officials against Russia.”
For his part, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev explained the direct objective of the Russian General Staff conducting exercises on the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons.
Medvedev said on his Telegram channel: “The number of scoundrels is increasing among the Western political elite who are calling for sending their troops to a country that does not exist, and they now include representatives of the US Congress, the French and British leadership, crazy people from the Baltic states and Poland, and they also call for the active use of their missiles to hit Russian territory.”
“There is a clear deterioration of the ruling class in the West, sending their troops to the territory of the former Ukraine will mean the direct entry of their countries into the war, to which we will have to respond, and not on the territory of the former Ukraine,” he added.
“In this case, none of them will be able to hide in Capitol Hill or in the Elysee Palace or in Downing Street, there will be a global catastrophe, Kennedy and Khrushchev have been able to understand this for more than 60 years.”
The Russian president had earlier said during an interview with the agency “Rossiya Sevodnya” about Russia’s readiness to use nuclear weapons in the event of a threat to the Russian state, noting at the same time that “there was never a need to use tactical nuclear weapons during the special military operation.”
Putin pointed out that Russia from the military-technical point of view is ready for nuclear war, adding that he does not believe that “things are moving towards direct clash.”
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