"During the exercise, a number of activities will be held to practice the preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons," the Russian ministry said in a statement posted on the Telegram social media platform.

It added that the move was being taken "at the instruction of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation", Vladimir Putin.

The drills are designed to "maintain the readiness" of the military to protect the country, "in response to provocative statements and threats against Russia by certain Western politicians", the Russian ministry added.

The exercises will involve the air force, navy and forces from the southern military district, which borders Ukraine and covers the regions that Moscow has annexed.

No dates or locations for the drills have been announced.

In October 2023, Russia said Vladimir Putin had overseen the test-firing of ballistic missiles in a military exercise simulating a "massive nuclear strike" on Moscow.

During the exercise, a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from the Plesetsk space base in northern Russia and a Sineva ballistic missile was test-fired from a submarine in the Barents Sea.

The announcement came on the same day that the upper house of Russia's parliament, the Federation Council, approved a bill to scrap ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly referred to the possibility of using nuclear weapons since the start of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022.

Russia deployed tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, its closest ally and a neighbour of the European Union, in the summer of 2023.

Russian nuclear doctrine envisages the "strictly defensive" use of atomic weapons in the event of an attack on Russia with weapons of mass destruction or aggression with conventional weapons "that threaten the very existence of the state".

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