Russian Federation President Putin has ordered an exercise for employment of the country’s tactical nuclear weapons. This was first reported by RIA Kremlin Pool at 0300 EST this morning. Popular Russian Telegram News page Bazabazon then confirmed that the exercise will involve Navy and Air Force units of the Southern Military District. The date and time of this exercise has not been disclosed as of this publication.
Official Statements
By 0500 EST, both former-president Medvedev and Presidential Spokesperson Peskov made official statements concerning the exercise. Medvedev made the following statement:
“The chorus of irresponsible scoundrels among the Western political elite calling for troops to be sent to a non-existent country is growing. Now it includes representatives of the US Congress, French and British leadership, and individual madmen from the Baltic states and Poland. They also call for the active use of their missile weapons, which they supplied to the Banderaites, throughout Russia. And this is not a spring aggravation, but a cynical calculation for political dividends. There is some kind of total degradation of the ruling class in the West. This class really does not want to logically connect elementary things. Sending your troops to the territory of b. Ukraine will entail the direct entry of their countries into the war, to which we will have to respond. And, alas, not in the territory of b. Ukraine. In this case, none of them will be able to hide either on Capitol Hill, or in the Elysee Palace, or in 10 Downing Street. A world catastrophe will come. By the way, Kennedy and Khrushchev were able to understand this more than 60 years ago. But the current infantile morons who have seized power in the West do not want to understand. And that is why today the General Staff began preparations for the exercises, including activities for practical testing of the preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons.”
Peskov made the following statement:
“The exercises with non-strategic nuclear weapons are related to statements coming from the West about their readiness to send troops to Ukraine, Peskov said. The president’s press secretary called these statements dangerous. According to him, this new round of escalation of tension, it is unprecedented, requires special attention and special measures.”
Significance
In addition to these statements, Russian media also reported that the UK Ambassador to the Russian Federation was summoned to the Foreign Ministry. However, no official confirmation has been made by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FDCO) or the Russian Foreign Ministry. These statements and the reported summoning of the ambassador have been related to French President Macron’s statements that he would consider deploying troops to Ukraine if Ukraine requested and the UK supplying long-range weapons with no caveats on using them deep inside Russia.
A large-scale exercise of tactical nuclear weapons or forces in the Southern Military District would be significant considering that Ukraine is actively making strikes into Rostov Oblast and even further. If these weapons are transported to front-line air bases or facilities, the opportunity for escalation and miscalculation rises significantly.
