US conduct exercises in case of nuclear war with Russia
The United States conducted “small” exercises in the event of a Russian nuclear strike against Europe and a retaliatory attack by the United States, a Pentagon spokesman said.
According to him, “the scenario of the exercises included a contingency situation in Europe, where there is a war with Russia, and Russia decides to use limited nuclear weapons of low power against an object on NATO territory.”
The Pentagon spokesman added that in such a situation, the defense minister and then the president intervene, “and ultimately a decision is made on how to respond.”
The US reaction was simulated during the exercises, during which Washington “responded with a nuclear strike against Russia.” According to him, during these exercises, the head of the Pentagon, Mark Esper, got an idea of how the United States could react in a similar situation.
Representatives of the US Congress also took part in the exercises to understand how “communication takes place during a nuclear crisis.”
A Pentagon spokesman said earlier Friday that the US has no plans to deploy low-power nuclear missiles in Europe. He assured that the American “response to a violation by Russia” would be non-nuclear, explaining that we are talking about ballistic missiles of such range that the INF Treaty (Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate and Shorter-Range Missiles) allows.
In early February, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that he invited US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to accept a statement on the inadmissibility of a nuclear war. He added that Washington soon promised to give an answer, and expressed hope for its positivity.