On Tuesday Russia launched a massive exercise of the country’s nuclear forces. The drills were ordered by President Vladimir Putin, notably just days before the US election. “Today we are conducting another exercise of strategic deterrence forces,” he announced.

Putin in a video call with top defense officials detailed that the drills simulate using nuclear weapons, and featured practice launches of nuclear-capable ballistic and cruise missiles, as cited in The Associated Press via Russian media.

Illustrative file image: Roscosmos Space Agency Press Service/The Associated Press

He further declared that the country’s strategic forces remain a “reliable guarantor of the country’s sovereignty and security.”

“Taking into account growing geopolitical tensions and emerging new threats and risks, it’s important for us to have modern strategic forces that are always ready for combat,” he said, emphasizing that nuclear weapons remain “the ultimate, extreme measure” of ensuring Russia’s national security.

“We will work out the actions of officials to control the use of nuclear weapons with practical launches of ballistic and cruise missiles,” Putin described. However, he also cautioned that “I want to stress that we aren’t planning to enter into a new arms race.” But included in the exercises were confirmed ballistic and cruise missile launches, with the Kremlin declaring that “all goals were achieved” successfully in the drills.

The Russian president observed the drills from the Kremlin’s situational center via video conferencing, state media confirmed in a press release.

This past summer, as NATO heightened its support to Ukraine amid the war, and as Zelensky lobbied Washington and Brussels to allow long-range missile strikes on Russian territory, Putin in turn warned that the Kremlin would soon update and expand its official doctrine regarding nuclear usage.

“We plan to further develop the nuclear triad as a guarantee of strategic deterrence and maintaining the balance of power in the world,” he said at the time. The only other countries to possess a nuclear triad as part of their national defense include the United States, China, and India. 

As of late September, that change had reportedly been made, with Putin saying on the 25th of that month, according to a translation: “The updated version of the document proposes that aggression against Russia by any non-nuclear-weapon state, but with the participation or support of a nuclear-weapon state, should be considered as a joint attack on the Russian Federation.”

While not stating that this would automatically greenlight the ability of Russia to respond with nuclear weapons, he did assert that the threshold for their use would be met based on “reliable information about a massive launch of aerospace attack means and their crossing of our State border.”

JUST IN: 🇷🇺 President Putin orders military to begin nuclear weapons drills. pic.twitter.com/6pM5SKSIRy

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He also included defense of Belarus as being part of the change: “We reserve the right to use nuclear weapons in the event of aggression against Russia and Belarus as a member of the Union State,” Putin said.

This nuclear doctrine change, and now the new sweeping strategic forces drills on Tuesday, appear designed to keep up the pressure on the US, and to ensure there’s no new greenlight given for Kiev’s use of things like the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) or British Storm Shadows.

The Pentagon Monday warned that the US is willing to lift all restrictions on Ukraine’s use of West-supplied weapons on Russian territory in the scenario that North Korea joins the war in Ukraine, amid recent reports that some 10,000 DPRK troops have been sent to Russia.

Putin has previously warned that such missile attacks deep into Russia would be a ‘red line’. This alone could possibly lead to the Kremlin to deploy strategic nukes, in a nightmare escalation scenario. All of this is also without doubt sending a strong message to whoever gets voted into the White House after next week’s US election.