Russia is testing the combat readiness of a unit equipped with nuclear-capable Yars intercontinental ballistic missiles just north of Moscow as tensions continue to simmer with the West.
The Yars, which can be deployed in silos or mounted on mobile launchers, has a range of up to 6,835 miles and is capable of delivering multiple nuclear warheads.
Russia has carried out a series of nuclear drills this year in what security analysts say are signals intended to deter the West from intervening more deeply in the war in Ukraine.
The latest one is taking place in the same week that NATO conducted its annual nuclear exercise and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy unveiled his ‘victory plan’.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month that Moscow had extended the list of scenarios that could prompt it to use nuclear weapons, effectively lowering the threshold for their use.
Ukraine accused Moscow of nuclear blackmail.
Russia previously conducted two rounds of exercises involving Yars missile units in July.
It has also held three sets of drills this year to test preparations for the launch of tactical nuclear missiles, which have a shorter range and lower yield than intercontinental strategic rockets.
In the course of the war, Putin has issued frequent reminders that Russia has the world’s biggest nuclear arsenal, but he has insisted that it does not need to resort to nuclear weapons in order to achieve victory in Ukraine.
In September, analysts warned Putin could resume nuclear tests in Russia to demonstrate intent if aggravated further.
In June, the Russian president suggested that he could arm the West’s enemies with weapons to strike Western targets abroad or deploy conventional missiles within striking distance of the US and its European allies.
Ulrich Kuehn, an arms expert at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy in Hamburg, said he did not rule out Putin sending some kind of nuclear message -such as testing a nuclear weapon to cow the West.
‘This would be a dramatic escalation of the conflict,’ he told Reuters.
‘Because the point is, what kind of arrows has Mr Putin then left to shoot if the West then still continues, apart from actual nuclear use?”
Nuclear tests have not been conducted on Russian soil since 1990, the year before the collapse of the Soviet Union.
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