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Videos of the war games were released by the Russian military on Thursday (10/12/2020). The local Defense Ministry said videos of the missile launch that had been shared showed a nuclear capable missile had been deployed. These missile maneuvers include a test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile from the nuclear submarine Karelia in the Barents Sea. (Read: Chinese ship Umbar Shot as US warship enters South China Sea )
Russia has expanded its military exercises in recent years amid tensions with the West. Relations between the two sides have slumped to post-Cold War lows after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula which broke away from Ukraine in 2014.
television station Zevzda milika The Ministry of Defense also broadcasts intercontinental missile launches from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk region.
Several long-range cruise missiles were also fired from Tu-160 and Tu-95 strategic bombers from Engels and Ukrainka airfields.
The cruise missile reportedly hit its target at the Pemboy training ground in Komi Republic. (Read: UN: Anti-tank missiles in Libya are similar to Iran’s Dehlavieh missiles )
Ballistic missiles from Plesetsk and the Barents Sea hit their target at the Kura training ground in Kamchatka, on Russia’s Pacific coast.
News agency TASS reported that the launch was resumed under Putin’s command.
“The training to manage strategic offensive forces is being held under the supervision of the commander-in-chief,” read a statement from the Russian Defense Ministry. “The training objectives are fully met.”
The war games come less than two months before the New START arms control agreement between the United States (US) and Russia ends in early February.
Moscow and Washington have discussed extending the pact, but differences remain. (Also read: 153 States Urge Israel to “Abandon” Nuclear Weapons )
New START was signed in 2010 by then US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
The treaty limits each country to no more than 1,550 nuclear warheads deployed and 700 missiles and bombers deployed, and allows on-site inspections to verify compliance.
After Moscow and Washington withdrew from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty last year, New START is the only remaining nuclear arms control agreement between the two countries that is still in effect.
Supporters of arms control have warned that with the death of the New START agreement, it would remove any checks on US and Russian nuclear forces, dealing a blow to global stability.
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