President Vladimir Putin has overseen military drills on countering nuclear strike, as Defense Minister said Moscow should maintain its readiness to retaliate in case of any attack.
President Vladimir Putin has overseen military drills on countering nuclear strike, as Defense Minister said Moscow should maintain its readiness to retaliate in case of any attack.
"We are carrying out tests of the readiness of the Russian armed forces. It was announced last November. The exercises will involve all branches of the armed forces across the country," Putin told reporters at the Defense Ministry.
The planned drills come ahead of the May 9 celebrations dedicated to victory in World War II.
During the drills, it was demonstrated how the missile corps, artillery, aviation and anti-aircraft defenses can be used – for instance, to destroy troops on the ground or to counter massive missile, aviation or nuclear strikes by an enemy.
It was also shown how to inflict a launch-through-attack strike with nuclear missiles.
The training exercises, which are due to include ground troops and artillery as well as the air force, were held during a summit of heads of state of a security bloc made up of former Soviet states.
For his part, Defense Minister and army general Sergey Shoigu said that modern challenges and threats to the country’s national security demand that the army and the fleet are maintained in readiness for quick and effective retaliation in any conditions.
Agence France Presse quoted Shoigu as saying that Russia’s nuclear capabilities are on 'constant combat alert'.
On the other hand, Russian aerospace defense troops, led by Putin, have successfully overridden a massive nuclear missile strike, an official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry told RIA Novosti news agency.
"At the Priozersk training area (Kazakhstan), a successful interception of a ballistic target by a short-range counter missile was carried out. A massive rocket nuclear strike was repelled by a ballistic missile defense unit of air and missile defense troops," the representative said.
The representative also detailed that the combat crews of Armies of Aerospace Defense have discovered and accompanied the ballistic targets with the launch of a short-range interception missile of the Amur complex.
“The anti-missile system successfully struck the target that imitated a ballistic rocket,” the representative added.
The strategic weapon carrier Tu-95MC conducted launches of six cruise missiles aiming at targets on the ground in the aviation training area of the Western military district, as part of the drills.
