“Thunder” exercises are not extraordinary in themselves, because nuclear weapons carriers (missiles) are being tested, not nuclear warheads.
On Tuesday, Russia formally notified the United States of holding the Grom-2022 Strategic Nuclear Forces exercise. Preliminary it might take place right after the end of ongoing Steadfast Noon NATO training that has started on October 17 and will end on October 30, 2022.
But the exact dates of “Thunder [Grom] – 2022” have not yet been announced, moreover, according to the agreement with the U.S., the Kremlin must warn about them in advance so that it does not look like the beginning of a nuclear attack.
This year such russia’s training already took place a few days before a large- scale invasion to Ukraine. This fall the exercises are more focused on testing intercontinental ballistic missiles, although there is a high probability of launching cruise missiles over Ukraine, the head of the Ukraine intelligence Kyrylo Budanov admits.
In particular, we are talking about launches from three underwater missile carriers, hypersonic missiles, land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, launches from strategic aircraft, as well as a test launch of the RS-28 “Sarmat”. Considering the list of forces and means, the north of the Russian Federation will be the key test area.
▪️Russia has not carried out training nuclear explosions for 32 years, so the technical condition of its nuclear arsenal causes justified concerns.
▪️In conditions of full-scale Russian aggression and regular nuclear blackmail, the Russian Federation can use training as an excuse to provoke escalation.
▪️Nuclear exercises with the use of intercontinental ballistic missiles in conditions of obvious inadequacy of the Russian leadership pose a global threat to humanity.
It worth mention, that the last nuclear tests were conducted on the eve of the collapse of the USSR in 1990. Then an underground group detonation of eight charges with a total capacity of 70 kilotons was carried out at the Nova Zemlya training ground “Object 700”. Since then, at least officially, the Russian Federation has not conducted any practical tests of nuclear charges.
Tags: grom-2022 nuclear weapons russia ukraine war thunder-2022
