Russia’s War Games Feature Nuclear Capabilities, Fueling NATO Anxiety

A swarm of Russian drones flies into Poland in what officials there regard as a deliberate provocation.

NATO responds by bolstering the alliance’s air defenses on its eastern flank.

Moscow showcases its conventional and nuclear military might in long-planned exercises with Belarus, as it warns the West against sending foreign troops into Ukraine.

These events — all taking place in the month since the U.S.-Russia summit meeting in Alaska failed to bring peace to Ukraine — have only heightened tensions in eastern Europe.

When Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, it came days after joint maneuvers with Belarus. The latest sweeping drills, dubbed “Zapad 2025” — or “West 2025” — have worried NATO members Poland, Latvia and Lithuania that border Belarus to the west.

The maneuvers, which wrap up Tuesday, have included nuclear-capable bombers and warships, thousands of troops and hundreds of combat vehicles simulating a joint response to an enemy attack -– including what officials said was planning for nuclear weapons use and options involving Russia's new intermediate range ballistic missile, the Oreshnik.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte referenced Moscow's hypersonic missiles, noting that they shatter the notion that Spain or Britain are any safer than Russia's neighbors of Estonia or Lithuania.

“Let’s agree that within this alliance of 32 countries, we all live on the eastern flank,” he said in Brussels.

The anniversary of Russia's nuclear weapons policy

One year ago this month, Putin outlined a revision of Moscow's nuclear doctrine, noting that any nation’s conventional attack on Russia that is supported by a nuclear power will be considered a joint attack on his country. That threat was clearly aimed at discouraging the West from allowing Ukraine to strike Russia with longer-range weapons and appears to significantly lower the threshold for the possible use of Russia’s nuclear arsenal.

That doctrine also places Belarus under the Russian nuclear umbrella. Russia, which says it has deployed battlefield nuclear weapons to Belarus, plans to station Oreshnik missiles there as well later this year.