MOSCOW, February 27. /TASS/. In response to aggressive statements in the West Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued orders to introduce what he described as a "special duty regime" in Russia’s deterrence forces.
"Top officials in NATO’s leading countries have been making aggressive statements against our country. For this reason, I give orders to the defense minister and chief of the General Staff to introduce a special combat duty regime in the Russian army’s deference forces," Putin said at a meeting with Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov in the Kremlin on Sunday.
Putin stressed that the Western countries were also taking unfriendly actions against Russia in the economic sphere.
"I am referring to the illegitimate sanctions, which are very well-known to everybody," he added.
The meeting took place against a backdrop of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, which Moscow began in response to a request for assistance from the leaders of the Donbass republics.
Strategic deterrence forces
The strategic deterrence forces’ task is to deter aggression against Russia and its allies, and also to defeat an aggressor in a war by using various types of weapons, including nuclear ones. The deterrence forces incorporate the Strategic Offensive Force (SOF) and Strategic Defensive Force (SDF). The strategic nuclear potential constitutes the backbone of the SOF, armed with intercontinental missiles and aircraft, including high accuracy long-range weapons. The strategic nuclear potential includes the Strategic Missile Force. The SOF also includes the strategic conventional dual-purpose force - strategic and long-range bombers and also submarines, surface ships and naval missile-carrying naval aircraft carrying high-accuracy long-range weapons.
The SDF’s key components are combat-ready forces and means of the aerospace defense, such as the missile attack warning system, the system for monitoring outer space and the missile defense, space defense and air defense.