MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday launched strategic nuclear exercises involving the firing of ballistic missiles, the RIA news agency reported citing the Kremlin.
The drills are Moscow’s latest show of force as tensions with the West over Ukraine escalate.
Asked if the military drills had started, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Yes.”
According to Belarusian state media, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Vladimir Putin, took part in the launch of these exercises from a situation room in the Kremlin.
These exercises follow a large series of exercises by the Russian armed forces over the past four months. According to the West, some 150,000 Russian soldiers are concentrated in the north, east and south of Ukraine, but Moscow denies any plans to invade Ukraine.
(Report Tom Balmforth; French version Claude Chendjou)
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