Russian military correspondent calls nuclear drills 'silent dialogue' with West

MOSCOW, May 20. /TASS/. The Russian Armed Forces’ nuclear drills are a "silent dialogue" with Western countries that have ceased to believe in the possibility of using weapons of mass destruction and are threatening Moscow, Hero of Russia Yevgeny Poddubny, military correspondent and Deputy CEO of the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK), told TASS.

"The leaders of European countries have some kind of confidence in their own immortality. I don’t quite understand why a number of state leaders suddenly decided that nuclear weapons cannot be used. Therefore, the [strategic nuclear force] exercise is, first and foremost, a direct ‘silent dialogue’ with those European globalists who, perhaps, somewhere deep down, have decided that they can attack the Kaliningrad Region or that they can transfer weapons systems to Ukraine that would allow them to inflict serious harm on us," he said.

According to Poddubny, demonstrating the possibility of launching a nuclear strike in the event of a threat to the existence or integrity of the country could have a sobering effect on adversaries.

From May 19-21, 2026, the Russian Armed Forces are conducting an exercise on the preparation and use of nuclear forces in the event of a threat of aggression. As the Defense Ministry previously reported, more than 64,000 troops are involved in the drills.