Footage shows Vladimir Putin giving instructions as the Russian military carried out nuclear missile launch drills after Donald Trump cancelled his meeting with the Russian leader
Vladimir Putin has been personally overseeing Russian drills of nuclear missile launches against the West.
The exercises comes at a moment of high tension after he torpedoed Donald Trump ’s peace bid in the Ukrainian war. Putin was shown with his defence minister and top general as mock launches were ordered from ground based Yars missiles at the Plesetsk cosmodrome in the Russian north.
The war games also drilled strikes from the K-117 Bryansk Delfin-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine. The exercise was completed with missiles fired from a Tu-95MS strategic bomber over the Barents Sea, the marginal Atlantic Ocean sea bordered by both Russia and NATO member Norway.
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Putin’s defence minister Andrei Belousov said: “Comrade Supreme Commander-in-Chief, today, under your leadership, an exercise in the command of the strategic nuclear forces is being conducted.”
And the Russian leader said: “Today we have a scheduled — I want to emphasise that, a scheduled — exercise in the command of the nuclear forces.”
Commander General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff, reported: “Comrade Supreme Commander-in-Chief – in the exercise it is proposed to work through the sequence of actions for the activation and deployment of nuclear weapons.
“Practical actions will be carried out by the mobile ground-based Yars missile system from the state test cosmodrome Plesetsk, the strategic submarine of the Northern Fleet, Bryansk as well as from the waters of the Barents Sea, strategic missile-carrying Tu-95MS aircraft. Putin scribbled on paper – apparently signing an order – as he took part remotely in the drill.
A decision on a real nuclear strike would be Putin’s alone but defence minister Belousov and General Gerasimov also carry the “Cheget” nuclear briefcase and must be involved in any launch process.
The drill was a launch on a supposed enemy – which is being viewed as the West – while the targets they practiced on were not divulged.
“The exercise tested the level of preparedness of the military command and the practical skills of the operational personnel in organising the control of subordinate forces,” said a Kremlin statement. “All exercise tasks were completed.”
While Putin emphasised that the manoeuvres had been planned in advance, they came hours after Trump said on Tuesday his plan for a swift meeting with Putin in Budapest was on hold because he didn’t want it to be a “waste of time.”
The decision about the meeting in Budapest, Hungary, which Trump had announced last week, was made following a call Monday between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
It was made clear on Tuesday by Lavrov that Russia is opposed to an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine. Trump, meanwhile, has been shifting his stance all year on key issues in the conflict, including whether a ceasefire should come before longer-term peace talks, and whether Ukraine could win back land seized by Russia during almost four years of fighting.