Russia holds drills with nuclear subs, land-based missiles

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian nuclear submarines have sailed off for drills in the Barents Sea and mobile missile launchers are roaming snow forests in Siberia after President Vladimir Putin ordered his nation’s nuclear forces put on high alert. Russia’s Northern Fleet said Tuesday that several nuclear submarines were involved in the exercises to “train maneuvering in stormy conditions.” It said several warships tasked with protecting northwest Russia’s Kola Peninsula would join the maneuvers. The Russian Defense Ministry said units of the Strategic Missile Forces dispersed Yars intercontinental ballistic missile launchers in eastern Siberia. The military didn’t say whether the drills were linked to Putin’s order amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.