Two days after Vladimir Putin put nuclear forces on high alert, Russia began deploying nuclear-capable submarines and intercontinental missile launchers in exercises in the country’s northwest and east, according to the Associated Press news agency.
The Russian Northern Fleet claims that several nuclear submarines are involved in the exercise for “maneuvering in stormy conditions”. The statement also said that warships protecting the Kola Peninsula would join the training.
Further east of the country, in Irkutsk, Siberia, strategic forces have positioned ICBM launchers in forests in the region, according to a statement attributed to the Russian Defense Ministry by the AP.
There were no references to Putin’s order to put the country’s nuclear forces on high alert, made in response to tightening criticism and sanctions from Western countries on Russia. It is also unclear, so far, whether the exercises are outside the routine activities of training and military exercises of Russian forces.
But the move comes amid a prolonged Russian invasion of Ukraine, with bombings of major cities such as Kharkiv, the country’s second largest, and the approach of a 64 km convoy of tanks and other military vehicles to Kiev.
In addition, US, European and allied sanctions are beginning to have stronger impacts on Russia’s economy. The ruble fell to a record low, interest rates soared and overseas shares in the country’s top companies melted.
On Sunday, the European Union reacted to the Russian leader’s escalating speech by saying he would offer fighter jets to Ukraine to fight the invasion.
“Authorities of leading NATO countries allow aggressive statements against our country, so I order the Minister of Defense and the Chief of Staff [das Forças Armadas] to put the Russian army’s deterrent forces into special combat mode,” the president said over the weekend, according to state news agency Tass.
Putin had already implied in his speech in which he announced the war on Thursday (24) that he would use his nuclear arsenal as a deterrent strategy, saying that interference by other countries would lead to “consequences never seen before”.
Finland and Sweden, countries very close to the region where the exercises of nuclear forces take place, were also threatened by the Russian government, which does not want the two countries to be part of NATO (Western military alliance). Preventing Ukraine from joining the group is one of the Kremlin’s main demands in the current conflict.
“Finland and Sweden must not guarantee their security by undermining the security of other countries. If they join NATO, they could face serious military and political consequences,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement. Friday (25th).
The Russian president also demonstrated force with nuclear equipment even before the actual invasion, when a possible conflict was still feared while tens of thousands of Russian soldiers were positioned on the border with Ukraine.
From the Kremlin command center — and alongside Belarusian ally Aleksandr Lukachenko — Putin ordered the firing of two models of hypersonic missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and two missiles of the type that would be used in an eventual nuclear war in a series of exercises.
