For Russian President Vladimir Putin, Wednesday was all about nuclear.

In the afternoon, the Kremlin, under the leadership of the supreme commander, ie Putin, reported that the strategic nuclear forces had held an exercise and practiced the launching of land, sea and air-launched missiles and cruise missiles.

All tasks have been completed.

Frederick Smith

Political correspondent for Russia and the CIS in Moscow.

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Pictures that are said to have been taken in the Kremlin showed Putin in front of a screen.

Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu, who was on the call, said a "massive" response to an opponent's nuclear attack was being practiced.

The US Department of Defense had previously emphasized that it had been informed by Moscow about the annual "Grom" (thunder) maneuver.

Meanwhile, Russia held a maneuver of its strategic nuclear forces only on February 19, five days before the attack on Ukraine.

On February 24 and thereafter, Putin vaguely threatened to use nuclear weapons.

On the other hand, Putin's spokesman referred to Russia's military doctrine in response to inquiries and calls from Russian "hawks" to fight Ukraine with tactical nuclear weapons.

This provides for the use of nuclear weapons only in response to an attack on Russia with nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction and in the event that a conventional attack endangers "the very existence of the state".

Soon after Wednesday's maneuvers, Putin addressed, again via video link, a greeting to heads of security and intelligence agencies of the Commonwealth of Independent States, who were meeting in Moscow.

He once again referred to "Ukraine" as an "instrument of American foreign policy" and said the neighboring country had been "turned into a training ground for military biology experiments."

With this, Putin renewed his own, unsupported assertion from the spring and then repeated the likewise unsupported statement that Kyiv was aiming for a radioactive “dirty bomb” as a “provocation”.

That's what Shoygu and Chief of Staff Valeriy Gerasimov said on Sunday and Monday in a series of phone calls with Western defense ministers and military officials, themselves building on Putin's earlier claims.

Kyiv and Western countries reject the allegations.

Photos that Shoygu's ministry published on Monday as alleged evidence turned out to be images found online, for example from a Russian nuclear power plant and Russian research institutions.

Ahead of Putin's appearances on Wednesday, Russia had requested two special sessions of the United Nations Security Council, one on an alleged "nuclear provocation" in Ukraine and another on alleged "bio-labs" there.

Conjectures as to why Moscow is now rehashing its old allegations have ranged from trying to keep in touch to preparing for its own “false flag” operation in Ukraine.