A pair of Russian MiG-31 fighter jets taking part in the joint drills [Russian Defence Ministry Press Service via AP Photo]
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Russia and Belarus have begun the second stage of tactical nuclear weapons drills, part of Moscow’s efforts to discourage the West from ramping up support for Ukraine.
The first exercises took place last month and focused on preparation for nuclear missions and how to arm and deploy missiles.
Russia announced the exercises last month, after French President Emmanuel Macron said he would not rule out deploying troops to Ukraine under certain conditions and the United States and some other NATO allies said Kyiv was allowed to use Western-supplied weapons on targets in border areas of Russia.
Speaking to reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the situation in Europe was “quite tense” and that such drills and maintaining combat readiness were important in view of the “hostile decisions and actions” by the US and its allies and their “daily provocations”.
Since sending thousands of troops into Ukraine in a full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned that Russia could use nuclear weapons to defend itself in extreme situations.
Last year, Russia moved some of its tactical nuclear weapons into Belarus, which also borders Ukraine and NATO members Poland, Latvia and Lithuania. Belarus’s President Alexander Lukashenko has relied on close ties with Russia and provided his country as a staging ground for the war in Ukraine.
Tactical nuclear weapons include air bombs, warheads for short-range missiles and artillery munitions and are meant for use on a battlefield. Usually, they are less powerful than strategic weapons – huge warheads that arm intercontinental ballistic missiles and are intended to destroy entire cities.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has noted, however, that even Russia’s battlefield nuclear weapons are much more powerful than the two atomic bombs the US dropped on Japan in August 1945.
Last week, Putin declared that the West was wrong to proceed from the assumption that Russia will never use its atomic arsenal.
The country’s nuclear doctrine envisages the use of nuclear weapons in case of a threat to “the very existence” of the Russian state.
Officials in the US have said they have seen no change to Russia’s strategic posture, although senior intelligence officials say they have to take Moscow’s remarks about nuclear weapons seriously.
Russia and the United States are by far the world’s biggest nuclear powers, holding about 88 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons, according to the Federation of American Scientists.
Meanwhile: Poland, Baltics Call for EU Defence Line On Border With Russia, Belarus
In a letter to the chairman of the EU to be discussed at a summit in Brussels starting on Thursday, the leaders of the four countries that share borders with Russia and Belarus said the project, to protect the 27-nation bloc of 450 million people, would also need the financial support of all members.
Hybrid threats refer to a combination of military and nonmilitary as well as covert and overt means, including disinformation, cyberattacks, economic pressure and the pushing of migrants across borders.
“The scale and costs of this joint endeavour require a dedicated EU action to support it both politically and financially,” the letter said.
Some EU diplomats estimated the cost of building such a defensive line on the ground along the 700 km EU border with Russia and Belarus at around 2.5 billion euros ($2.67 billion).
European investment in defence and its financing will be one of the main topics of discussion among EU leaders at the summit, as Russia’s war against Ukraine has entered its third year and Moscow is stepping up hybrid operations against the West.
The call for a jointly funded ground defence line on the eastern border of the European Union comes on top of an earlier initiative by Greece and Poland to create an EU air defence system, modelled on the Israeli Iron Dome, that would coordinate the now separate air defence systems of EU countries.
“Extraordinary measures need to be employed as the EU’s external border must be protected and defended with military and civilian means,” the letter of the four countries said.
The letter said the planning and execution of the defence line on the EU’s eastern border should be done in coordination with NATO and its military requirements.
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