On the 29th, Russian President Putin attended the training of Russia’s land, sea, and air strategic deterrence forces via video conference and stated that Russia has no intention of getting involved in a new arms race, but will maintain necessary nuclear forces.
According to the Kremlin website, Putin stated in his speech at the training ceremony that the routine training of the strategic deterrence force will involve the actual launch of ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as the exercise of troops using nuclear weapons.
Putin pointed out that Russia reiterates its principled position that the use of nuclear weapons is an “extremely special last resort” to ensure national security. At the same time, the “three in one” nuclear strike force remains a reliable guarantee of Russia’s sovereignty and security, helping to address Russia’s strategic deterrence issues and maintaining the world’s nuclear balance and power balance as an objective factor for global stability.
Putin stated that with the intensification of geopolitical tensions and the emergence of new external threats and risks, it is crucial to have a modern and on call strategic force. Russia has sufficient resources to continue improving its strategic deterrence level. He emphasized that Russia will not be involved in a new arms race, but will maintain the necessary nuclear forces.
Putin said that the modernization rate of Russia’s nuclear forces has reached around 94% this year. According to the national arms plan, Russia will systematically equip its strategic missile forces with new fixed and mobile missile systems. Compared with previous generations of missile systems, these systems have higher precision, shorter launch preparation time, and stronger ability to counter missile defense systems. In addition, the Russian Navy will continue to receive the latest nuclear submarines and modernize long-range strategic bombers.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, during a training exercise that day, the Russian military launched an “Yars” intercontinental ballistic missile from the Plesetsk launch site in northwestern Russia towards the Kura range on the Kamchatka Peninsula in eastern Russia. The “Novomoskovsk” strategic nuclear submarine launched a “Deep Blue” and a “Brava” intercontinental ballistic missile from the waters of the Barents Sea, while the “Oleg Grand Duke” nuclear submarine launched one from the waters of the Okhotsk Sea. The Tu-95MS long-range strategic bomber participating in the exercise launched an air based cruise missile. According to the news, this exercise successfully completed all established tasks, all missiles hit their targets, and all missile performance parameters met the standards.