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Russia announced on Monday that the president Vladimir Putin ordered the carrying out of military maneuvers with tactical nuclear weapons, also called non-strategic, on the battlefield. According to that country’s Ministry of Defense, the exercises will be a response to “threats” from the West, after leaders such as the French president Emmanuel Macron will declare about the possibility of sending soldiers to Ukraine.
Although the date and location were not specified, the Russian Defense Ministry stated on Telegram that The exercises will be “training in the preparation and use of weapons non-strategic nuclear”.
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He added that the measure was taken on the instructions of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the President, Vladimir Putin.
He maintained that the army, aviation, navy and forces of the Southern Military District, which is based very close to Ukraine and covers Ukrainian regions whose annexation Russia claims.
As the AP agency notes, This is the first time that Russia has publicly announced tactical exercises with nuclear weapons.although its strategic nuclear forces carry out maneuvers regularly.
What statements by Western leaders have put Russia on alert?
Last week, the president of France, Emmanuel Macronreiterated that does not rule out sending troops to Ukraine. While the British Chancellor David Cameron He said Kiev’s forces would be able to use long-range British weapons to hit targets within Russia.
Monday, Russia responded to Cameron summoning his ambassador to Moscow, Nigel Caseywhich warned that the United Kingdom will be the target of attacks on its military bases inside and outside Ukraine if Kiev uses British weapons in its operations against Russian territory.
“Russia see the words of Cameron as a confirmation of the serious escalation and growing involvement of London in military actions alongside Kyiv”, denounced the Russian Foreign Ministry.
In turn, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri Peskovconfirmed on Monday that the latest comments from Macronin Cameron it’s from American authorities had pushed Russia to announce the holding of the nuclear maneuvers.
“It’s a new round of climbing”Peskov said. “It is unprecedented and requires special attention and special measures.”
Following Russia’s announcement, the spokesman for Russia’s Military Intelligence agency UkraineAndrii Yusov, told national television that “nuclear blackmail is a common practice of the Putin regime; “It’s not great news.”.
O NATO He also responded on Monday. “Russia’s nuclear rhetoric is dangerous and irresponsible,” said Farah Dakhlallah, spokeswoman for the Atlantic Alliance. “NATO remains vigilant.”
“Ukraine has the right to self-defense, which is enshrined in the United Nations Charter, and NATO allies will continue to support Ukraine. “Russia started this illegal war and must end it,” Dakhlallah added.
It’s not the first time that put on talk about your nuclear weapons in the context of war in Ukraine, started by Russia in February 2022. In March last year, following the British Government’s decision to provide Ukraine armor-piercing projectiles containing depleted uranium, Russian president announced its plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarussomething he eventually did.
And this Tuesday, the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenkoordered the Armed Forces to begin a surprise inspection of tactical nuclear weapons located on its territory.
“In compliance with an order from the President of Belarus, an inspection of launchers of non-strategic nuclear weapons is being carried out,” the Defense Ministry said.
He added that the “planning, preparation and use of attacks with tactical nuclear warheads” will be examined and will involve a squadron of Russian Su-25 aircraft.
In October 2023, Russia announced that put on He oversaw ballistic missile launches during military maneuvers intended to simulate a “massive nuclear attack” by Moscow.
While on March 14, put on reiterated that Russia It is willing to use nuclear weapons if there is a threat to its sovereignty or independence.
Russia and the United States They are the largest nuclear powers in the world, since together they have more than 8,100 nuclear warheads ready to be usedand are followed by China, France and the United Kingdom.
Russia has about 1,558 non-strategic or tactical nuclear warheads, according to the Federation of American Scientists.
The country governed by put on It is the nation with the largest arsenal of non-strategic nuclear weapons, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTIby its acronyms in English).
But what are tactical nuclear weapons?
According to CNN, Tactical warheads are nuclear weapons designed to be used on a limited battlefield.. That is, they can be used to destroy a tank column or an aircraft carrier battle group. The smallest can be 1 kiloton or less (equivalent to thousand tons of explosive TNT) It is the greatest you can achieve 100 kilotons.
While strategic nuclear warheads are the most powerful and have an explosive power of 500 to 800 kilotons and are designed for destroy entire cities and much more.
However, CNN explains that the apparent “low yield” of tactical warheads is misleading, since the explosive yield of 10 to 100 kilotons is enough to cause great destruction, as happened in 1945, when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima (16 kilotons) and Nagasaki (20 kilotons), in Japan. At least 246 thousand people died as a result of these attacks and their consequences.
Thus, due to the ability to wreak devastation, many analysts believe that there really is no difference between a strategic and a tactical weapon when used in war, CNN notes.
In 2018, the then US Secretary of Defense told the US Congress: “I do not believe there is such a thing as a ‘tactical nuclear weapon’… Any nuclear weapon used at any time is a strategic game changer. ”.
Pavel Podvig, A Geneva-based scholar of Russian nuclear forces said in an interview with The New York Times that Russia had already carried out exercises of this type before, although he rarely made them public. This time, however, the goal is to send a strong message, he said.
“This is a reaction to specific statements, a signal that Russia has nuclear weapons,” Podvig told the NYT.
Podvig explained that, unlike strategic nuclear weapons, which are always combat-ready, Non-strategic ones are stored in warehouses far from the bombers, missiles or ships that must transport them.. During the exercise, Russian army formations will likely practice how they can be deployed, he said.
However, he considered that it would not make much sense to use tactical nuclear weapons in the context of the war in Ukrainebecause the absence of large-scale concentrated troop formations would limit their impact on the battlefield.
For its part, the NGO coalition International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017, warned on Monday that military maneuvers with tactical nuclear weapons are “reckless and dangerous”, reported the EFE agency.
“These exercises pose an even greater risk of escalation”said a spokesperson for the organization, who highlighted that these types of Russian nuclear threats have been occurring since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine.
ICAN has maintained that the Russian exercises are an attempt to dissuade other countries from supporting Ukrainebut far from guaranteeing peace, they “facilitate aggression and recklessness”.
According to ICAN, organizations such as NATO They carry out nuclear exercises of this type, but in the current context of the Russian war these maneuvers especially increase the risk of a nuclear conflict.
“Any use of a nuclear weapon would also likely be met with retaliation that could escalate into an all-out nuclear war, threatening a global catastrophe“, said the spokesperson.
Source: Elcomercio
I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.
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