NATO will monitor an expected upcoming Russian nuclear exercise very closely, the alliance's chief said on Thursday, in particular in light of Moscow's latest nuclear threats related to its conflict in Ukraine.
"We have monitored Russian nuclear forces for decades and of course we will continue to monitor them very closely and we will stay vigilant - also when they now start a new exercise," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters.
"What I can say is that this exercise, the Russian exercise, is an annual exercise. It's an exercise where they test and exercise their nuclear forces," he added, apparently referring to Russia's annual Grom exercise that normally takes place in late October and in which Russia tests its nuclear-capable bombers, submarines and missiles.
"We will monitor that as we always do. And of course we will remain vigilant, not least in light of the veiled nuclear threats and the dangerous rhetoric we have seen from the Russian side," Stoltenberg said.
(Reporting by John Chalmers, Sabine Siebold, Phil Stewart and Philip Blenkinsop)
