Russia's Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (file photo)
Financial Times: US believes Russia plans nuclear exercise to warn west over Ukraine
US military and intelligence officials believe that Russia is planning to hold a big nuclear weapons exercise this month as a warning to Nato not to intervene if President Vladimir Putin decides to invade Ukraine.
General Mark Milley, chair of the joint chiefs, and Avril Haines, director of national intelligence, told lawmakers in the House of Representatives on Thursday that Putin was planning to start the exercises in mid-February, according to a Congressional aide with knowledge of the closed-door briefing.
Russia generally holds its annual nuclear exercises — which involve testing intercontinental ballistic missiles from land, sea and air — in the fall.
But the US believes Putin has decided to hold them earlier this year as a show of strength in the event that he orders his military to further invade Ukraine.
The US believes that the optimum time for a Russian invasion would be from mid-February to the end of March.
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Update: Nuclear fears mount as Ukraine crisis deepens (Politico)
WNU Editor: Russia usually has a major nuclear exercise once or twice a year. This is nothing new.
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