Vladimir Putin Takes Lead As Russia Tests Nuclear Arsenal

Russian President Vladimir Putin played a leading role in the latest test of the country’s strategic nuclear arsenal, the most comprehensive test that Russia has done since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

The exercises mostly took place on Friday and were featured prominently in news reports on state television, reports Yahoo! News.

The media coverage appeared to be aimed to show Russians, as well as the rest of the world, that President Putin will be a hands-on chief of a resurgent power in the world.

Tests involved command systems, as well as all three components of the nuclear “triad” on land and sea. They launched dummy long-range nuclear missiles, as well as strategic bombers, which the Kremlin stated were conducted “under the personal leadership of Vladimir Putin,” notes The New York Times.

The Defence Ministry added that an RS-12M Topol Intercontinental Ballistic Missile was launched from Plestek in northern Russia, while another ICBM was launched from a submarine in the Sea of Okhotsk.

Finally, long-range Tu-95 and Tu-160 bombers fired off four guided missiles that hit targets on a testing range in the north-west region of Komi. The Kremlin statement added:

“Exercises of the strategic nuclear forces were conducted on such a scale for the first time in the modern history of Russia. Vladimir Putin gave a high evaluation to the combat units and crews and the work of the Armed Forces General Staff, which fulfilled the tasks before them and affirmed the reliability and effectiveness of Russia’s nuclear forces.”

Displays like the one over the weekend are nor unusual in Russia, according to Pavel Podvig, a researcher with the Russian Nuclear Forces Project. Podvig added that they are especially common when the government is trying to “beef up the military.”