The Kremlin has accused NATO of stoking tensions over the war in Ukraine with its annual nuclear deterrent exercise launched on Monday.
“In the context of the hot war in the Ukrainian conflict, such exercises only lead to a further escalation of tensions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian agency Interfax.
Russia has repeatedly carried out its own nuclear maneuvers over the past two and a half years, threatening to use nuclear weapons if certain red lines are crossed.
NATO started the Steadfast Noon exercise on Monday, in which around 2,000 soldiers from eight air bases will participate over the next two weeks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently ordered a change to the country’s nuclear doctrine, allowing the use of nuclear weapons even as Russia sees its survival threatened by the use of conventional weapons.
The move is intended to deter the West from allowing Ukraine to use the supplied long-range weapons to attack military targets deep inside Russia.
Peskov said Russia considers negotiations to reduce the world’s nuclear weapons potential necessary. But since the nuclear powers US, Britain and France are currently involved in the war due to their supply of conventional weapons to Ukraine, this is impossible, he said.
In the past, Putin had warned of a new nuclear arms race and proposed talks between major nuclear powers on new disarmament initiatives.
