MOSCOW, May 6. /TASS/. Russia’s General Staff has launched preparations for drills of the Southern Military District’s missile troops together with aircraft and naval forces to practice employing non-strategic nuclear-weapons, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Monday.
"On an instruction from the supreme commander-in-chief of the Russian Armed Forces and for the purposes of raising the preparedness of non-strategic nuclear forces for accomplishing combat objectives, the General Staff has launched preparations for holding drills in the immediate future with missile formations of the Southern Military District with the involvement of aircraft and naval forces," the ministry said in a statement.
The drills will practice a set of measures of readying and employing non-strategic nuclear weapons, the ministry specified.
The missile drills will aim to maintain troop combat posture and will also come as a response to inflammatory statements and threats by some Western officials against Russia, the ministry specified.
"The exercise aims to maintain the preparedness of troops and equipment for the combat employment of non-strategic nuclear weapons to react and unconditionally ensure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Russian state in response to provocative statements and threats by some Western officials against the Russian Federation," the ministry stressed.