Overview
- The exercise featured land, sea, and air components, including a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile launched from Plesetsk, a Sineva missile fired from the Bryansk submarine in the Barents Sea, and Tu‑95MS bombers deploying air‑launched cruise missiles.
- The Kremlin called the event planned and routine, and Gen. Valery Gerasimov said it practiced procedures for authorizing the use of nuclear weapons.
- State media and the Defence Ministry released videos showing the launches and identifying the platforms and locations.
- The timing overlapped with the U.S. Global Thunder 26 and NATO’s Steadfast Noon nuclear exercises, a convergence observers highlighted as concentrated nuclear activity.
- The drill came as President Trump put a planned Budapest meeting with Putin on hold and as Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov pressed for extending the New START treaty.