REUTERS
Russian forces held drills this week simulating nuclear-capable strikes near European Union borders, the Russian Protection Ministry has revealed.
Members of the Baltic Fleet held battle video games Wednesday to “ship mock missile strikes with the crews of Iskander operational-tactical missile programs” in Kaliningrad, the press service of the Western navy district stated in a assertion.
The drills, held close to the borders of EU-member states Poland and Lithuania, come amid more and more unhinged makes an attempt by Kremlin mouthpieces in Russia’s state-run media to promote the concept a nuclear strike is inevitable.
RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan final month stated it's “extra possible” Russia’s battle in Ukraine will finish in a nuclear strike than Vladimir Putin merely backing down.
On Russia’s state-owned Channel One, Russian lawmaker Aleksei Zhuravlyov and TV host Olga Skabeyeva went even additional, overtly discussing the prospects of Moscow lobbing nuclear missiles at the UK, Germany and France.
Putin himself has hinted at nuclear strikes, telling lawmakers final week that Russia will unleash “lightning-fast” retaliatory strikes if anybody dares “to intervene within the ongoing occasions” in Ukraine.
“We've all of the instruments for this, issues nobody else can boast of getting now. And we won't boast, we'll use them if mandatory. And I would like everybody to know that,” he stated.
Whereas the Russian Protection Ministry assertion on Wednesday’s battle video games didn’t explicitly point out simulated nuclear strikes, Iskander missiles, with a spread of round 300 miles, are identified to be able to carrying nuclear warheads. From Kaliningrad, Western Ukraine, Poland, the Baltic States, and even components of Germany can be inside hanging vary.
The servicemen who took half within the drills have been additionally stated to have practiced “actions within the situations of radiation and chemical contamination of the world.”