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Russia’s recent nuclear force exercise not politically-motivated — former commander

Viktor Yesin said that this year's training included firing a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome toward the Kura test site in Kamchatka

MOSCOW, October 26. /TASS/. The command post exercise of nuclear forces that Russia held on Wednesday was a scheduled annual event and had no political subtext, said Colonel General Viktor Yesin, the former chief of Russia's Main Staff of the Strategic Missile Forces.

"The drill was conducted according to the annual training plan of Russia's Strategic Nuclear Forces. The event is held in October every year. It was not linked to anything," he told TASS.

The analyst said that this year's training included firing a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome toward the Kura test site in Kamchatka, a Sineva ICBM by the Tula nuclear-powered submarine of the Northern Fleet toward the Kura test site, and air-launched cruise missiles by Tu-95MS jets.

The exercise was supervised by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The president watched it via video link from the Kremlin Situation Center. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov made reports.

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