Strategic nuclear forces’ drills held in Russia

The Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces were put on alert for drills on order from President Vladimir Putin, the Defense Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

"The exercise of the Strategic Nuclear Forces was held on October 11, 2018 on order from Russian President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Putin," the statement reads.

According to the Defense Ministry, Russian submarines and long-range aircraft held drills to live-fire missiles from the Barents and Okhotsk Seas.

"Ballistic missiles were live-fired from submarines, along with the launches of airborne cruise and aircraft missiles from the Barents and Okhotsk Seas, including by long-range aircraft, which took off from the Engels, Ukrainka and Shaikovka airfields," the ministry said in a statement.

The statement also said that Russia’s missile early warning system had detected all the launches of ballistic missiles from submarines in drills and the data on the launches was transmitted to command posts.

"The unified space system and ground-based radar stations have timely detected all the launches of ballistic missiles from submarines," the ministry stated. "The data on the launches was transmitted to the posts of controlling the state and the armed forces in accordance with the established procedure."