Putin oversees planned readiness test of Russias nuclear forces

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin supervised what he said was a planned test of Russia’s nuclear forces on land, sea and in the air to assess his nation’s readiness on Wednesday.“Today, we are conducting a planned — I want to emphasize, planned — nuclear forces command and control exercise,” Putin said in a video conference with the Kremlin’s top military brass, CNN reported.As part of the test, a land-based “Yars” intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from a cosmodrome while a “Sineva” ballistic missile was launched from a nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea.Russia also deployed nuclear-capable cruise missiles from strategic bombers.Moscow typically carries out nuclear drills to rehearse its command structure and flex the world’s largest nuclear arsenal to its adversaries — and Wednesday’s came one day after President Trump revealed he nixed a second in-person summit with Putin over his war in Ukraine.

“The exercise tested the level of preparedness of the military command and the practical skills of the operational personnel in organizing the control of subordinate forces,” the Kremlin said in a statement.“All exercise tasks were completed”.The readiness test comes on the heels of NATO conducting nuclear exercises earlier this month, dispatching F-35 fighter jets and B-52 bombers in a horde of more than 70 aircraft from 14 allied nations for its Steadfast Noon exercise in Belgium and the Netherlands.“We need to do this because it helps us to make sure that our nuclear deterrent remains as credible, and as safe, and as secure, and as effective as possible,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte previously said in a video statement.The drill comes as Putin claimed last month that he is amenable to a one-year extension of the arms control treaty with the US that limits the number of nuclear weapons the two countries have in their arsenals.He said he would back an extension of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or...