Putin's WW3 warning to West? Russia begins tactical nuclear drills amid escalating Ukraine tensions (WATCH)

Russia's military on Tuesday commenced drills involving tactical nuclear weapons, as announced by Russian authorities earlier this month. This move appears to be a warning to senior Western officials considering deeper involvement in the war in Ukraine. This is the first time Russia has publicly announced drills with tactical nuclear weapons, although it routinely conducts exercises with its strategic nuclear forces.

According to a statement released by the Defense Ministry on Tuesday, the initial stage of these new drills involves "practical training in the preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons," including the nuclear-capable Kinzhal and Iskander missiles.

The maneuvers are being conducted in the Southern Military District, which includes Russian regions in the south, areas on the border with Ukraine, Crimea (illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014), and four Ukrainian regions that Russia illegally annexed and partially occupies as of 2022.

The drills were announced on May 6, with the Defense Ministry stating they were a response to “provocative statements and threats from certain Western officials regarding the Russian Federation.”

Tactical nuclear weapons, which include air bombs, warheads for short-range missiles, and artillery munitions, are intended for battlefield use and are less powerful than strategic weapons. Strategic weapons, such as massive warheads arming intercontinental ballistic missiles, are designed to destroy entire cities.

The announcement followed French President Emmanuel Macron’s reiteration that he does not exclude sending troops to Ukraine, and UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron's statement that Kyiv’s forces could use British long-range weapons to strike targets inside Russia. The Kremlin condemned these comments as dangerous, increasing tensions between Russia and NATO.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on May 6 that Macron’s statement and remarks by British and US officials had prompted the nuclear drills, describing the comments as “a new round of escalation.”

Meanwhile, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev labeled Western leaders as "infantile morons" and "irresponsible scoundrels," asserting that the deployment of Western troops in Ukraine—a country he referred to as "non-existent"—would provoke a terrifying Russian response from which no heads of state could hide.

"The chorus of irresponsible scoundrels among the Western political elite calling for troops to be sent to a non-existent country is growing. Now it includes representatives of the US Congress, French and British leadership, and individual madmen from the Baltic states and Poland," Medvedev had said.

He added, "They also call for the active use of their missile weapons, which they supplied to the Banderites [a pejorative term for Ukrainians named after a hard-right faction of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists], throughout Russia. And this is not a spring aggravation, but a cynical calculation for political dividends. There is some kind of total degradation of the ruling class in the West... This class really does not want to logically connect elementary things."

"Sending your troops to Ukrainian territory will entail the direct entry of their countries into the war, to which we will have to respond - and, alas, not in Ukrainian territory. In this case, none of them will be able to hide - either on Capitol Hill, or in the Elysee Palace, or in 10 Downing Street. A world catastrophe will come," he had remarked.

"By the way, Kennedy and Khrushchev were able to understand this more than 60 years ago, but the current infantile morons who have seized power in the West do not want to understand. And that is why today the General Staff began preparations for the exercises, including activities for practical testing of the preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons," the former Russian president had said.

Will Russia actually use nuclear weapons and spark World War 3?

All nuclear powers conduct routine nuclear exercises, but it is extremely rare to explicitly link such drills to a current war, as Russia has done. Russia possesses numerous weapons systems capable of delivering a tactical nuclear warhead—designed for battlefield use, unlike strategic warheads that can devastate entire cities. The US and its allies will be closely monitoring which systems are involved. These could include Iskander, Kinzhal, Kalibr, or Novator 9M729 missiles, and possibly air-dropped bombs, according to William Alberque of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Matt Korda, senior research fellow for the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists told Reuters last week, "This is a clear case of nuclear signalling. Russia's nuclear signalling in the context of its invasion of Ukraine has been designed to deter conventional invasion by NATO and long-range strikes into Russia."

"This is supposed to be a signal to the West, probably to make people stop thinking about deeper involvement in the war. But I believe we can be quite confident that it is not a threat to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine or against Ukraine," Pavel Podvig, director of the Russian Nuclear Forces Project told the news agency.

According to the Reuters report quoting a senior Russian source, the signal was intended to instill fear in the West and deter the United States and its European allies from a potentially catastrophic escalation over Ukraine. The source warned that the West's declared aim of defeating Russia on the battlefield could trigger a nuclear scenario.

"You are making a grave mistake if you dismiss such signals," the source was quoted as saying in the Reuters report. "Russia will not be defeated."

Christopher​​​​ Chivvis, Senior Fellow and Director of the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Reuters last week, "Putin is reminding the world that Russia is a nuclear power and indicating that he might be willing to use nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine."

"He is not saying that he is about to do so, but warning that there are some conditions under which he would do so. It seems unlikely Russia would use such weapons offensively to make gains on the battlefield. More likely, they would use them defensively in a situation where Russian forces were rapidly retreating and significant losses seemed probable," the former US intelligence official had added.