Putin orders exercises with tactical nuclear weapons

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his military to conduct exercises involving tactical nuclear weapons. These can be used on the battlefield, but not to eliminate entire cities. According to Moscow, the maneuvers are taking place ‘in response to provocative statements and threats from Western leaders’.

On the eve of the start of his fifth presidential term, Vladimir Putin has once again flexed his muscles. The Russian leader ordered his armed forces to conduct exercises with tactical nuclear weapons. For the maneuvers he commandeered the air force, navy and ground forces of the southern military district. In addition to the Russian border regions of Ukraine, Moscow also includes parts of the ex-Soviet republic that it wants to annex.

“During the exercises, the military will train on the preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons,” the Russian Defense Ministry said on the Telegram messaging service on Monday. Tactical nuclear weapons, which can be launched with missiles, allow soldiers to eliminate targets on the battlefield, but they cannot be used to destroy strategic targets or entire cities. The Kremlin left it unclear when and where the maneuvers will take place and how many troops will participate.

According to Moscow, the exercises are a response to statements by Western leaders. “They plan to send armed troops to Ukraine, after which NATO soldiers will come face to face with the Russian army.” The Kremlin denounced Emmanuel Macron’s “very dangerous rhetoric.” The French president refuses to rule out sending Western ground troops to Ukraine. British Foreign Minister David Cameron was also criticized because he believes that Ukraine should be allowed to use British weapons to attack targets in Russia.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine at the end of February 2022, Putin has been blowing hot and cold about the use of nuclear weapons in the conflict. In the autumn of 2023, the Russian army was still training for ‘mass nuclear retaliation attacks’. In his policy statement in February this year, the Russian leader warned the West of a nuclear conflict if it sends troops to Ukraine. A month later he put those statements into perspective again. “The use of tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine never occurred to me,” he told Russian media.

According to Russian military doctrine, Moscow may only resort to nuclear weapons in the event of an attack with weapons of mass destruction or aggression with conventional weapons ‘that endangers the survival of the Russian state’. Russia and the United States together possess about 10,600 of the 12,100 nuclear warheads stored worldwide.