Russia's military conducted drills on Wednesday, overseen by President Vladimir Putin, that simulated a nuclear strike in response to a nuclear attack and involved multiple practice launches of ballistic and cruise missiles.
The Kremlin's announcement of the exercise came hours after the upper house of the Russian parliament revoked the ratification of a global nuclear test ban in what Moscow has described as a move to establish parity with the United States.
The bill to end ratification will now be sent to Putin for final approval. The lower house approved it last week.
The state television showed Putin directing the exercise via video call with top military officials.
Russia's Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu said the purpose of the drills is to practice “dealing a massive nuclear strike with strategic offensive forces in response to a nuclear strike by the enemy.”
While similar drills are held every autumn, Shoigu's pointed comments came amid soaring tensions between Russia and the West over the fighting in Ukraine.
The vote to rescind the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in the Russian Parliament follows a statement from Putin, who warned earlier this month that Moscow could revoke its 2000 decision to ratify the bill to “mirror” the stand taken by the U.S., which has signed but not ratified the nuclear test ban.
The CTBT, adopted in 1996, bans all nuclear explosions anywhere in the world but the treaty was never fully implemented. In addition to the U.S., it is yet to be ratified by China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, Israel, Iran and Egypt.
There are widespread concerns that Russia could move to resume nuclear tests to try to discourage the West from continuing to offer military support to Ukraine. Many Russian hawks have spoken in favor of a resumption of the tests.
Putin has noted that while some experts have argued that it's necessary to conduct nuclear tests, he hasn’t yet formed an opinion on the issue.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said earlier this month that Moscow will continue to respect the ban and will only resume nuclear tests if Washington does it first.
Ryabkov said Wednesday that the Russian Foreign Ministry had received U.S. proposals to resume a dialogue on strategic stability and arms control issues, but noted that Moscow doesn't consider it possible in the current political environment.
“We aren't ready for it because the return to a dialogue on strategic stability ... as it was conducted in the past is impossible until the U.S. revises its deeply hostile policy course in relation to Russia,” Ryabkov told reporters in comments carried by Russian news agencies.
