Russia Vows to 'Use All Means' to Defend Against US Amid Nuclear Drills

A Russian RS-24 Yars nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile arrives during the main rehearsals of the country’s annual World War II military parade in Moscow’s Red Square on May 5.

Russia’s top diplomat in the United States has told Newsweek that his country was compelled to conduct snap nuclear exercises after what Moscow viewed as a series of destabilizing steps taken by Washington and its allies in relation to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

“Training events announced by the Russian Ministry of Defense have not arisen out of the blue,” Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov told Newsweek. “This is a forced measure in response to the impudent and aggressive policy of the ‘collective West,’ which creates unacceptable threats to the security of Russia and its citizens.

“The United States and its allies are constantly expanding supplies to Ukraine of lethal weapons designed to kill Russian people and carry out attacks on our territory,” he added. “Step by step, they abandon their own previously declared ‘self-limitations’ in the hybrid war unleashed against us. Roughly speaking, they are trying to ‘simmer’ our country.”

The exercises, first announced Monday, would see missile, aviation and naval units of Russia’s Southern Military Command “practice the preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons,” according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

While such maneuvers have been viewed as routine in the past, this is the first such exercise to be conducted since Russia launched its war in Ukraine on February 22, 2022, and the training was said by the Russian military specifically to be taking place “in response to provocative statements and threats of individual Western officials against the Russian Federation.”

“We are not threatening anyone,” Antonov said. “However, the strategists in Washington who had gone off the rails as well as its satellites in Europe must understand that in the spurred rise of stakes, Russia will use all means to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity. The West will not succeed in the unilateral escalation game it tries to play.”

Tensions between Russia and the U.S.-led NATO military alliance have risen substantially since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. The White House has accused the Kremlin of waging a war of aggression against its neighbor, while Moscow has accused Washington and its allies of looking to use Kyiv to further expand NATO presence along Russia’s borders.

With the conflict predominantly locked in stalemate for more than a year, and recent Russian advances along key axes, the U.S. and other Western supporters have expanded military assistance to Ukraine.

A statement issued Monday by the Russian Foreign Ministry regarding the recent nuclear exercises specifically called out the presence of U.S.-provided MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) as well as “British and French long-range missile systems” on the battlefield. It also cited statements by U.K. Foreign Secretary David Cameron, who suggested Western weapons could be used to strike within Russian territory, and French President Emmanuel Macron, who has repeatedly discussed the potential of sending troops to Ukraine.

The Russian Foreign Ministry took aim at U.S.-built F-16s approved to be sent to Ukraine as well, arguing that Moscow “will perceive them as carriers of nuclear weapons and consider this step by the United States and NATO as a deliberate provocation.” The ministry also warned against the potential deployment of U.S. mid-range missile systems long banned under the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty that was abandoned by the U.S. and then Russia in 2019, warning Moscow would respond to such a move in kind.

“These and some other actions of the member states of the North Atlantic bloc actually indicate that they are deliberately leading to a further escalation of the Ukrainian crisis towards an open military clash between NATO countries and Russia as part of the implementation of a hostile course to inflict a ‘strategic defeat’ on our country,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Meanwhile, the ministry expressed “hope” that the nuclear drills “will cool down the ‘hotheads’ in Western capitals, help them realize the possible catastrophic consequences of the strategic risks they generate, and keep them from assisting the Kiev regime in its terrorist actions and from being drawn into a direct armed confrontation with Russia.”

But news of the exercises was met with criticism in Washington, where U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller stated that, “Russia’s rhetoric—their nuclear rhetoric—has been reckless and irresponsible throughout this conflict.”

“That said,” he told reporters, “we have not seen any reason to adjust our own nuclear posture in response to these announcements, nor any indications that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine.”

Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Major General Pat Ryder also criticized the announcement during a press briefing Monday, calling it “an example of the kind of irresponsible rhetoric that we’ve seen from Russia in the past.”

“It’s completely inappropriate, given the current security situation,” Ryder said. “And, you know, we’ve not seen any change in their strategic force posture. Obviously, we’ll continue to monitor. But it’s just, yes, irresponsible rhetoric.”

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