Russia's Strategic Missile Forces start drills

Russia's Strategic Missile Forces (SMF) kicked off on Wednesday a large-scale command-and-staff exercises involving over 2,000 servicemen, said a military spokesman.

"The SMF are conducting command-and-staff drills on March 10-12 in line with the annual training program," said Vadim Koval as cited by the RIA Novosti news agency.

Under guidelines outlined by the new military doctrine, said Koval, the SMF will conduct operations control involving conventional and nuclear warfare scenarios.

The new Russian military doctrine approved by President Dmitry Medvedev last month defines NATO expansion as a threat.

The doctrine also deals with risks related to the creation and deployment of missile defense systems, the militarization of outer space and the deployment of smart strategic conventional systems.

Koval said in January that the SMF would add two regiments equipped with Topol-M missiles in 2010. It would also give priority to improving the quality of its strike force, raising the share of missile complexes with a prolonged service life to more than 20 percent and new missile complexes to 80 percent by 2016.

Source: Xinhua