Russia announces plans to deploy military divisions on Western border and form new nuclear regiments
Russia is in the middle of a multi-billion pound overhaul of its military
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Russia will create three new military divisions on its Western border in 2016 and bring five new strategic nuclear missile regiments into service, Sergei Shoigu, the country's defense minister, has been quoted as saying.
Shoigu's announcement, reported by Russian media, is consistent with a multi-billion pound overhaul of Russia's military, which is currently carrying out air strikes in Syria after helping annexe Ukraine's Crimea region in 2014.
Shoigu did not explain the motivation for forming the new divisions, but said it would be one of the most important tasks for the defense ministry this year. He said every military district should also expect to undergo spot checks in 2016.
“Our main effort should go into strengthening the potential of our strategic nuclear forces and of fulfilling the space defense program,” the RIA Novosti agency quoted Shoigu as telling a meeting.
“Five rocket regiments, equipped with modern rocket complexes, will enter active service in 2016.”
It was also necessary to steadily improve the infrastructure supporting the nuclear forces, he said, singling out the facilities where the country's nuclear-armed submarines and long-range nuclear bombers were based.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments