© Provided by Agencia EFE
Moscow, Feb 18 (EFE) .- Russian President Vladimir Putin will conduct exercises with ballistic and cruise missiles this Saturday amid the escalation of tensions between Moscow and the West, which fears a Russian invasion following the concentration of some 150,000 troops near the borders with Ukraine.
“On February 19, 2022, under the leadership of the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces, Vladimir Putin, planned exercises of the Strategic Containment Forces will be carried out, in which ballistic and cruise missiles will be launched,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Units of the Russian Aerospace Forces, the Southern Military District, the Strategic Missile Forces, and the Black Sea and Northern Fleets will participate in the exercises.
These exercises, previously planned, according to Defense, are intended to check the state of readiness of the military leadership, the launch units, the crews of the missile carriers, as well as to verify the reliability of the strategic nuclear and conventional weapons in the Russian arsenal.
The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, pointed out in his daily telephone press conference that these maneuvers do not have to cause concern in the West, since it is a “fairly regular” training and different countries have been notified through various channels. .
Putin’s press secretary confirmed that the Russian president will be at the command post during the exercises, and did not rule out that his Belarusian counterpart, Alexandr Lukashenko, currently visiting Russia, may also be present.
“Putin will be at the command post. These types of launches, even if they are practical, cannot be done without the head of state. You are aware of ‘the black briefcase’, the ‘red button,'” he explained, without offering more details.
Regarding Lukashenko’s participation, the spokesman said that if the presidents “decide to attend together, then he will be there. But everything will depend on both heads of state.”
The exercises of the Strategic Containment Forces coincide with the Russian-Belarusian exercises “Allied Determination-2022” that are held in Belarus from February 10 to 20 and have further increased tensions between Moscow, Minsk and Kiev due to their proximity to the Ukrainian border.
(c) EFE Agency
