Russia carries out test for ‘massive’ nuclear attack on West

Russia Ministry of Defense

Russia has tested nuclear missiles from land, sea and air as it simulated a “massive” response to an attack from the West.

Vladimir Putin also warned that Russia would respond to any attack with “overwhelming” nuclear firepower because this was the “ultimate” safety.

“Taking into account the rising geopolitical tensions and the emerging new threats and risks, it is important that we have modern strategic forces that are always ready for battle,” the President said.

News agencies affiliated with the Kremlin said the Russian military fired a Yars nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile from the Plesetsk launch pad at the Kura test site on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

The Yars missile was secretly developed in 2007. It is a thermonuclear missile that can be armed with four warheads that are individually programmed to hit different targets.

Russia’s Defense Ministry also said two nuclear-powered submarines had fired ballistic missiles capable of being armed with nuclear warheads in the Barents Sea, in the Arctic, and the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, in the Pacific Ocean.

Tu-95 strategic bombers also launched practice flights with long-range cruise missiles.

On a live video feed, Andrei Belousov, Russia’s defense minister, told Putin that the exercise simulated Russia’s “strategic offensive forces launching a massive nuclear strike in response to an enemy nuclear strike.”

In September Putin lowered the threshold to launch a nuclear attack in Russian military doctrine. Analysts said Russia’s national nuclear test on Tuesday had been expected and planned for several months, although with more nuclear tests, there was a sense of growing nuclear danger.

“Ten days after the US began the Global Thunder nuclear exercise, Russia said it was ‘practicing launching a massive nuclear attack,’” said Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists. “It is important to add that these exercises are planned well in advance and are not a direct response to the other person.”

Ukraine is still trying to convince its Western partners to fire long-range Western-made missiles at Russia, a move the Kremlin has warned would provoke a major response.

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