Against the backdrop of Russia's strategic deterrence exercises coinciding with NATO's nuclear deterrence exercises, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the likelihood of conflict in the world and the region is still very high, stressing that his country is aware of Ukraine's plans to use a "dirty bomb"

President Putin received the report of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on the progress of the training of Strategic Deterrence Forces

"Under the supervision of the Russian president, exercises of the Russian land, sea and air strategic deterrence forces were held, during which ballistic missiles and cruise missiles were launched,"the Kremlin said in a statement.

"An intercontinental ballistic missile (YARS) was launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, and a ballistic missile (Sineva) was launched from the Barents Sea towards the Kura range in Kamchatka. The training was attended by long-range Tu-95MS aircraft, which fired cruise missiles during the execution of tasks,"he said.

"The tasks set within the scope of the training of the strategic deterrence forces were fully implemented, as all the launched missiles reached their targets,"he added.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that "under Putin's supervision, a severe nuclear strike was practiced in response to a nuclear strike by the enemy".

"The nuclear exercises are part of the preparation for a possible enemy attack against our country,"Shoigu noted.

It is worth noting that this training is the second of its kind this year, the first took place on February 19, 5 days before the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine.

During a meeting with the heads of the CIS security and intelligence services, Putin stressed that Moscow was aware of Ukraine's plans to use a "dirty bomb".

"A black arms market is being formed in Ukraine, there is a risk that portable anti-aircraft missile systems and high-precision weapons will fall into the hands of criminals,"he stressed.

"The Crimean Bridge incident and sabotage attempts at the Kursk nuclear power plant highlight the need for increased security measures at the country's energy and transport infrastructure facilities,"he noted.

Touching upon the incident of the Nord Stream pipelines, the Russian president said that "the incident of sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines is a destruction of the pan-European energy infrastructure. The sabotage has caused serious damage to the European economy,"he said.

Putin also stressed that" Ukraine has become an instrument of US foreign policy and has lost its sovereignty, "adding that" Ukrainian territory has been turned into an arena for biological experiments. "The United States is pumping weapons into Ukraine despite Kiev's public statements about its desire to acquire nuclear weapons," he said.