VLADIVOSTOK-Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces have launched a large-scale command-and-staff exercise that will involve the Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.
“The exercise will involve over 3,000 servicemen and about 300 pieces of military hardware. A commission of the Strategic Missile Forces’ command will assess cohesion among the personnel fulfilling their tasks,” the ministry said in a statement.
The Omsk Missile Formation and the Novosibirsk Missile Formation, equipped with Yars mobile launchers, will participate in the exercise, said the statement.
The servicemen of the Strategic Missile Forces would carry out a complex of measures to train concealment and counter-measures against modern aerial survey systems, it added.
Whereas, Sweden said Wednesday it was summoning the Russian ambassador after he said it and neighbouring Finland would become a “legitimate target” of “retaliatory measures” -- including military ones -- if they join NATO.
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The Nordic neighbours ended decades of military non-alignment last May when they decided to join the Atlantic alliance in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Finland and Sweden will become “legitimate targets” of Russian “retaliatory measures” once they join NATO, Russian ambassador Viktor Tatarintsev warned Tuesday. But Sweden’s Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said “the Ministry for Foreign Affairs will summon the Russian ambassador to make a clear statement against this blatant attempt at influence.