International Desk: Russian President Vladimir Putin has finally ordered his country’s military to conduct nuclear weapons drills around Ukraine. The exercise has been organized to ensure the country’s territorial integrity under the threat of certain western leaders.
The British news agency Reuters reported this information in a report on Monday (May 6), citing the Ministry of Defense of Russia.
According to the report, Putin ordered the Russian military to carry out this exercise in the face of constant threats from France, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said that Moscow will conduct military exercises, including preparations for the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons and the deployment of troops. Along with the Russian Air Force and Navy, troops from Russia’s Southern Military District will also take part in the exercise.
The ministry says the exercises are aimed at ensuring Russia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty in response to provocative statements and threats by some Western officials against the Russian Federation.
By the way, Putin has been repeatedly talking about the use of nuclear weapons since the start of the war with Ukraine. In his address to the nation last February, the Russian president warned that there was a “real” risk of nuclear war.
Currently, Russia and the United States are the world’s largest nuclear powers. Out of the world’s total of 12,100 nuclear warheads, more than 10,600 are in the arsenal of these two countries. The next country on the list of nuclear power countries is China. France and Britain are fourth and fifth on the list, respectively.
According to the Federation of American Scientists, Russia currently has about 1,558 non-strategic nuclear warheads. However, due to the lack of transparency, there is no reliable information about the exact statistics of such weapons in Russia.
Since the first atomic bombs were dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States in World War II in 1945, nuclear weapons have not been used in any war in the world.
