Russian nuclear forces conduct ‘high alert’ drills

Russia’s Northern Fleet said in a statement that several of its nuclear submarines were involved in exercises designed to “train manoeuvring in stormy conditions”.

It said several warships tasked with protecting northwest Russia’s Kola Peninsula, where several naval bases are located, would join the manoeuvres.

In the Irkutsk region of eastern Siberia, units of the Strategic Missile Forces dispersed Yars intercontinental ballistic missile launchers in forests to practice secret deployment, the defence ministry said in a statement.

The military did not say whether the drills were linked to Mr Putin’s order on Sunday to put the country’s nuclear forces on high alert amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.

It also was unclear whether the exercises represented a change in the country’s normal nuclear training activities or posture.

Mr Putin’s decree applied to all parts of the Russian nuclear triad, which like in the US, consists of nuclear submarines armed with intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear-tipped land-based ICBMs and nuclear-capable strategic bombers.

The United States and Russia have the two largest nuclear arsenals in the world, by far.

The US said Mr Putin’s move unnecessarily escalated an already dangerous conflict, but so far has announced no changes in its nuclear weapons alert level, perhaps in part because it was unclear what the Russian president’s order meant in practical terms.

Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has insisted no Nato allies are contemplating heeding Ukraine’s pleas to enforce a no-fly zone over the nation to prevent bombings from Vladimir Putin’s planes.

The prime minister again rejected Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky’s calls for British forces to actively join the effort, warning it would trigger a wider war with Russia.

With the invasion of Ukraine in its sixth day, Mr Johnson visited Nato members Poland and Estonia to shore up support for the defence alliance. But he ruled out British forces fighting in Ukraine, as he faced impassioned calls for a no-fly zone to be imposed to protect civilians as a major assault on Kyiv was feared to be imminent.