The Russian military is conducting massive drills in Siberia beginning on Monday that will involve truck-mounted intercontinental ballistic missile launchers. Russia’s Defense Ministry identified the military drills that will involve the use of their Topol-M and Yars missile launchers.

Those types of nuclear-tipped ICBMs are mounted on heavy all-terrain vehicles, making it more difficult for an enemy to spot them. The ministry said the drills are being conducted across a vast area from the Ivanovo region just northeast of Moscow to the Irkutsk region in eastern Siberia.

It said the exercise will focus on the deployment of missiles and fending off possible attacks by enemy scouts, but will not involve practice launches.

While the Defense Ministry listed the drills as strictly routine and defensive in nature, given the latest fiasco in Hawaii with the botched missile alert given to the population and the on-going rattling of the nuclear saber in North Korea, this drill couldn’t come at worse time.

The Russians may have had this planned well in advance, but it is bound to raise eyebrows in Europe as well as Washington. And given the increasing tensions between US and NATO countries with the fighting in Ukraine, this military drill will be watched as closely as possible.

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