Russian military conducts nuclear drills after legislature tosses test ban treaty

The Russian military held a nuclear strike drill on Wednesday after the legislature voted to rescind the country's ratification of a treaty banning nuclear tests.

Russian President Vladimir Putin directed the exercise himself, according to the Associated Press. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu stated that the drill served to simulate dealing a massive nuclear strike with strategic offensive forces in response to a nuclear strike by the enemy." Russia holds such drills every year.

The upper chamber of the Russian legislature on Wednesday voted to end its 2000 ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, a global pact barring nuclear detonations. Putin has yet to sign the measure.

Should he ultimately do so, the Russian Federation could resume detonating nuclear devices for testing purposes. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has stated that Russia has no plans to do so and would only resume nuclear tests in response to a comparable move by the U.S. The return of such explosions to the world will likely heightened fears of a nuclear escalation in the ongoing Ukraine War.

The conflict has witnessed recurring news cycles surrounding the prospect of meltdowns or false-flag operations against the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant or the Chernobyl facility to the north of Kyiv.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.