The armed forces of the russian federation have practiced the conditional task of a nuclear strike on China during the so-called "military games," the scenario of which simulated the invasion of Chinese troops on the territory of the russian federation.
This follows from an article by the Financial Times with reference to a number of allegedly secret documents containing data on "military games."
The publication gained access to 29 documents created between 2008 and 2014, which contain scenarios of "military games" and presentations for officers of the russian navy, which contain the principles of using nuclear weapons.
The publication claims that the documents described the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons. We are talking about the conditions under which Moscow would give an order to launch nuclear missiles at one or another state.
It is noted that this threshold turned out to be much lower than russian officials have ever publicly acknowledged.
Alexandr Gabuev, director of the Carnegie russian-Eurasian Center, told reporters that analysts and experts are seeing documents of this nature in public for the first time.
"They show that the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons is quite low when the desired result cannot be achieved by conventional means," FT quotes Gabuev as saying.
The criteria for a possible nuclear response range from a hostile invasion of russian territory to more specific triggers, such as the destruction of 20% of russia's strategic ballistic missile submarines.
The information contained in the documents shows russia's deep-rooted mistrust of China, despite the nuclear first-strike ban treaty that Moscow and Beijing signed back in 2001.
Scenarios of "military games" showed that the Eastern Military District of the russian Federation worked out numerous options for a Chinese invasion, including the use of nuclear weapons.
A number of documents suggest that russia may respond with a tactical nuclear strike to prevent an invasion by a second-echelon troop group if the first can be stopped with conventional weapons.
In one of the presentations, officers of the russian navy were presented with broader criteria for a possible nuclear attack, including the landing of an enemy on russian territory, damage to units responsible for the protection of border areas, or a future attack by the enemy using conventional weapons.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, at the beginning of this year, it became known that russia had created a "nuclear bomb simulator" for training military personnel.
In November 2023, the russian military conducted tests of the Bulava ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear charge.
Large-scale exercises were held in russia, during which the country's strategic deterrent forces practiced the task of a massive nuclear strike.
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