This morning, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the second stage of a non-strategic nuclear forces exercise ordered by President Vladimir Putin in May has begun. “During the exercise, a set of measures will be taken to practice the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons,” the ministry statement said. “The purpose of the exercise is maintaining the readiness of military personnel and hardware of the combat use of non-strategic nuclear weapons of Russia and Belarus in order to unconditionally ensure the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Union State.”