Russia launched ballistic missile launches this Wednesday, October 25, as part of preparations for a “massive nuclear strike” in response. This exercise took place on the same day that the upper house of the Russian Parliament revoked the ratification of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
The last tests of this magnitude date from 1990 in the USSR. Under the supervision of its head of state Vladimir Putin, Russia conducted military exercises this Wednesday with the firing of ballistic missiles in preparation for a nuclear attack on its homeland.
“An exercise was conducted under the leadership of the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces, Vladimir Putin (…). Practice firings with ballistic missiles and cruise missiles took place,” the Kremlin confirmed.
In his report, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu explained the reason for these maneuvers, which he said were intended to simulate the “initiation of a massive nuclear attack by strategic offensive forces in response to an enemy nuclear attack.”
Two ballistic missiles launched by Russia
Specifically, one Lars ICBM was launched from a cosmodrome in Plesetsk, in the northwest of the country, while a second, Sineva, was deployed from a submarine in the Barents Sea.
Long-range Tu-95MS aircraft already deployed on the Ukrainian front also fired shorter-range cruise missiles.
Images of these shots were broadcast by the Russian Ministry of Defense and shared on social networks, as this video on X proves.
However, Russian nuclear doctrine has always been clear: in the event of an attack on Russia with weapons of mass destruction or in the event of aggression with conventional weapons that “threatens the existence of nuclear weapons,” a “strictly defensive” use of nuclear weapons is envisaged.
The nuclear test ban treaty was abandoned on the same day
This round of exercises took place on the same day that the upper house of the Russian parliament, also known as the Federation Council, revoked the ratification of the Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).
Senators voted unanimously in favor of the text by 156 votes, ahead of an expected promulgation by Vladimir Putin in the coming days.
According to the Kremlin, abandoning this treaty is aimed at restoring “strategic parity” with the United States, which has never ratified it. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov assured Wednesday that his country would only talk about nuclear arms control when Washington, Ukraine’s main military and financial backer, stops being “hostile” toward Moscow.
Fear of an intensification of the arms race
The termination of the treaty raises fears that the arms race will intensify. Russia had not conducted such tests since 1990, before the collapse of the USSR, while the last test of this magnitude in the United States was in 1992.
In recent years, Russia has already withdrawn from several nuclear disarmament treaties, including the important New Start Agreement with the United States. In the summer of 2023, it also deployed tactical nuclear weapons less powerful than strategic vector warheads to its closest ally Belarus.
In recent years, Vladimir Putin has also been pleased about new Russian weapons in this area, which he said are capable of penetrating existing missile defense shields. He added that tests on two of them, the Bourevestink and the Sarmat, were nearing completion.
As a reminder, Russia and the United States together have almost 90% of all nuclear weapons on the planet.