The Russian navy sailed into the Barents Sea on Tuesday for drills, and mobile missile launchers moved through a snowy forest in Siberia after President Vladimir Putin ordered his country’s nuclear forces placed on high alert amid West-Russia tensions stemming from the invasion of Ukraine.
Several of Russia’s nuclear submarines participated in exercises designed to train maneuvers in stormy conditions, according to a press release from the Northern Fleet. In addition to the warships tasked with protecting northwest Russia’s Kola Peninsula, where several naval bases are located, several other warships will also participate in the maneuvers.
Neither the military nor Russian officials said if the drills were linked to President Putin’s order on Sunday to put the country’s nuclear forces on high alert amid Russia’s war in Ukraine. It also was not clear whether the exercises represented a change in the country’s normal nuclear training activities.
