The russian federation had notified the United States of the planned annual exercises of nuclear forces, the U.S. Ministry of Defence said the day before.
russian president vladimir putin watched the strategic deterrence exercises on Wednesday.
Source. The BBC citing the russian mass media.
Details. “All missiles reached their targets, confirming the specified characteristics,” the message on the kremlin's website reads.
The Pentagon's official representative, the U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, reminds journalists that russia is obliged, under the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, to notify in advance of the launch of missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
“The U.S. was notified, and, as we've highlighted before, these are usual annual exercises by russia,” Gen. Ryder says.
According to him, prior notification of the start of exercises reduces the risk of error.
Exercises of the russian strategic deterrence forces with launches of ballistic and cruise missiles takes place under the codename Grom.
In 2019, the Yars inter-continental ballistic missiles were launched from Plesetsk Cosmodrome as part of exercises at Kura Missile Test Range and submarines of the Northern and Pacific Fleets launched R-29R missiles at the Kura and Chizha missile test ranges. The task of the current exercises will be more modest than in 2019 – plans to launch ballistic missiles from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome and from a submarine in the water area of the Kola Peninsula at the same Kura Missile Test Range were reported.
According to preliminary data, exercises were held on February 19, 2022 – five days before the russian invasion of Ukraine. The exercises had not been held for two years before that time.