Global Security Newswire

Russia is preparing to hold this month a large-scale military exercise involving its nuclear forces, the Associated Press reported Friday (see GSN, Jan. 26).

The exercise, as reported in the Russian newspaper Kommersant, is set to be held mid-February and will resemble a Cold War-era exercise that simulated a nuclear war with the West, according to AP. The exercise is expected to involve Tu-160 strategic bombers firing cruise missiles over the northern Atlantic Ocean, other groups of bombers flying over Russia’s far northern region and test-firing missiles at a range near the Caspian Sea and several launches of Russian ICBMs, AP reported.

In addition, the exercise will also involve the launch of military satellites from two cosmodromes — one in northern Russia and one in Kazakhstan — to simulate the replacement of satellites lost in action, AP reported. Russia’s early warning system and missile defense system deployed around Moscow will also be used in the exercise (Vladimir Isachenkov, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Jan. 30).