Russia Places Nuclear-Capable Strategic Missile Launchers on Combat Duty

Yars Nuclear missile complex is seen of Tverskaya Street in Moscow during Victory Day Parade rehearsals on May 2, 2024. Russian media reported Yars launchers were placed on combat duty in the Siberian city... Contributor/Getty Images

Launch systems for nuclear capable missiles were brought to "combat patrol routes" in Russia, the country's state media has reported.

The news agency Tass posted video of what it said were launcher systems for the Yars intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) being rolled out in Novosibirsk in Siberia. The clip filmed during the daytime shows weapons being driven out of a warehouse and along a road.

The agency said that "the readiness" of personnel and equipment "for long-term duty in the field" were being checked.

The Yars RS-24 (NATO designation SS-29) is a strategic nuclear missile with a range of up to 7,500 miles and an accuracy range of 250 meters (750 feet), according to specialist military and defense outlet Army Recognition. It can be mounted on truck carriers or deployed in silos.

The first Yars RS-24 regiment consisting of three battalions was deployed in 2011, while two battalions of the second regiment were put on combat duty last December.

Tass said that personnel were conducting tasks that included "testing maneuvering actions on the routes of combat patrol as part of combat duty" as well as organizing camouflage and combat protection.

"Also, the servicemen will work out issues of countering sabotage and reconnaissance groups," the agency added.

Since the start of his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued ambiguous threats about his nation's atomic weapons that have been amplified by Kremlin propagandists who tout Moscow's nuclear capabilities and threaten strikes on the countries that back Kyiv.

However, experts doubt Putin would resort to deploying tactical nuclear weapons, which have less range than strategic arms but can be used on the battlefield.

Putin announced changes to Moscow's nuclear doctrine last month, outlining the circumstances in which Russia could use nuclear weapons. These now include the possibility of using them against nonnuclear states that are backed by nuclear powers, in a nod to Ukraine.

"Many Ukrainian government officials and Ukrainian citizens have viewed Russia's latest threats as nothing more than additional saber-rattling and antics," Mark Temnycky, nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center, told Newsweek.

Peter Rutland, professor of Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies at Wesleyan University, said the shift in Russian nuclear doctrine was "a development that serves to keep Putin's nuclear threats in the international news cycle."

"But it does not represent a substantial change in Russia's doctrinal position, nor does it really indicate an increased readiness to use nuclear weapons," he told Newsweek.

Source: Newsweek