Russia’s First-Ever Nationwide Drills For Nuke War Scenario

ANALYSIS – Is this another bluff, or is Vladimir Putin preparing for a worst-case outcome in Ukraine? According to sources linked to the Kremlin, Russian authorities will hold large-scale war drills across the country on October 3 because of the “growing danger of armed conflicts including [with] nuclear-capable powers near Russia's borders.”

While smaller-scale exercises have already reportedly taken place in several Russian regions, noted Newsweek, this final drill will culminate on a national level, the first ever for Russia.

Officials from across Russian society, “from civil defense leaders to heads of state corporations,” will take part in the drills, reported the Baza Telegram channel, which is linked to Russia's security services.

Baza noted that the doomsday drill will simulate that Russia is at least partially under martial law and that up to 70 percent of the country's housing has been destroyed.

The outlet added that the exercises will also assume that general mobilization has ended, and extensive radioactive contamination is possible.

See below the Russian nuclear chain of command.

Whether this is an escalation of Putin's saber rattling, or a sober preparation for the unthinkable remains to be seen.

However, as Newsweek reported:

Prominent Russian officials, such as former President Dmitry Medvedev, and Russian state television commentators have frequently mentioned the prospect of nuclear war. Some state media hosts and guests have suggested that Moscow should launch nuclear strikes on countries, such as the U.S. and U.K, that are supporting Kyiv's war effort.

“The idea of nuclear conflict, once unthinkable, has become a subject of debate,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, said in September 2022. “This in itself is totally unacceptable.”

In January 2023, leading scientists said the world was the “closest to global catastrophe it has ever been,” and it was a “time of unprecedented danger.” The following month, Putin suspended Russia's participation in the New START nuclear arms control treaty, and suggested that it would restart nuclear testing if Washington did so first.

In June 2023, U.S. President Joe Biden said the threat of Russia using tactical nuclear weapons was “real,” as Putin had announced the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons into Belarus.

In mid-June, Putin said that his deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, something he confirmed at the time had already happened, was a reminder to the West that it could not inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.

Moscow's first deployment of shorter-range battlefield nukes outside Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union was intended as a warning to the West about arming and supporting Ukraine, the Russian leader said. He added that there would be more nukes deployed to Belarus by the end of the year.

However, Putin also stressed he saw no need for Russia to resort to nuclear weapons for now.

But that was June, and we are now entering October. 

A lot has changed as Ukrainian missile and drone strikes deep into Russia have increased dramatically, and longer-range Western weapons such as British Storm Shadow cruise missiles, and potentially soon – ATACMS and F-16s, are pouring into Ukraine.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.