Russia conducts second mobile nuclear missile launcher drills this month

(Reuters) - Russian forces are conducting drills involving Yars mobile nuclear missile launchers, Russian media reported on Tuesday, in what would be the second such exercise in less than a month.

Missile launcher crews in the Volga river basin, some 700 kilometres (435 miles) east of Moscow, were set to move over 100 kilometres (62 miles) and practice camouflage and deployment, the Interfax news agency reported.

The drills follow similar exercises in early July in at least two different regions and are taking place less than two months after Russia held tactical nuclear weapons deployment exercises alongside ally Belarus.

Russia's Kommersant newspaper reported on Tuesday that the systems, equipped with a missile with multiple warheads, can hit targets at a distance of 11,000 kms. It also reported that the systems can be mounted onto truck carriers or deployed in silos.

Since launching an invasion on Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has conducted numerous military exercises on its own or with other countries including China or South Africa.

It has also increased military training with Belarus, which borders both Russia and Ukraine, conducting a series of comprehensive drills.

(This story has been refiled to clarify that Russia launched an invasion in February 2022, in paragraph 5)

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; editing by Miral Fahmy)

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