Kremlin comments on strategic nuclear drill

Foreign nations were informed about this week’s exercise beforehand, spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said

The nuclear exercise conducted this week by the Russian military was routine and announced in advance to other world powers, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry reported testing all three principal components of the national nuclear deterrence system. This included ground and submarine launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles and cruise missiles deployed by long-range bombers.

“A mechanism exists to notify relevant countries about such launches,” Peskov said during a regular briefing, when asked about foreign reaction to the exercise and remarks made by President Vladimir Putin regarding it.

The Russian leader said Moscow will maintain and improve all parts of its nuclear triad to ensure the country’s security and sovereignty, but has no intention of entering a new nuclear arms race. The weapons are an “an extreme, exceptional measure,” that prove their value at a time of growing geopolitical tensions, he added.

READ MORE: Russia doesn’t want new nuclear arms race – Putin

Peskov said that Putin’s statements are of interest to foreign nations regardless of whether he speaks about nuclear weapons or other topics.

According to the Defense Ministry, Russian troops fired a Yars ICBM from Kamchatka to a target at the Kura military range, and Sineva and Bulava SLBMs from the Novomoskovsk and Knyaz Oleg nuclear submarines in the Barents Sea and Okhotsk Sea, respectively. Nuclear-capable cruise missiles were also launched by Tu-95MS bombers.

The Russian nuclear drill came shortly after NATO’s ‘Steadfast Noon’ exercises kicked off in Western Europe in mid-October involving 13 members of the US-led military bloc. The US keeps some of its nuclear gravity bombs in Europe and helps host nations train annually in their deployment.