Russia has launched nuclear-capable missiles and issued nuclear munitions to some units as part of major nuclear exercises amid heightened tensions with NATO over the Ukraine war and drone activity in the Baltic.
Russia is conducting some of the biggest nuclear exercises in years, involving 64,000 people to drill its forces in "the preparation and use of nuclear forces in the event of aggression".
Russian President Vladimir Putin told Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov and top generals the use of such weapons would always be an exceptional and extreme measure of last resort.
