Fact check: The video does not show Russia testing nuclear weapons

Russian President Vladimir Putin's threat of a nuclear retaliation has gained renewed prominence recently as he warned last month that Ukraine would be allowed to use longer-range weapons supplied by the West hits deep inside Russia would involve NATO in war with its country.

Putin announced an update to the country's nuclear doctrine that would consider a conventional attack by a non-nuclear nation backed by a nuclear power as an attack on Russia. The announcement was seen as a warning to the United States and other allies of Ukraine.

A social media post that went viral this week suggested that Putin had taken his threats a step further by claiming that Russia had begun testing its nuclear weapons.

The claim

In a post published on October 29, 2024. Paris in 10 minutes keeps getting better…”

The post included a video of a missile being fired from a launcher.

The facts

Vladimir Putin confirmed this week that the country had launched strategic nuclear exercises testing its weapons capabilities.

In a video conference with his military leaders, the Russian president said the drills would include practice launches of nuclear-capable ballistic and cruise missiles to simulate how officials would behave if such weapons were needed.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that following Putin's decision, “the third phase of the exercise of non-strategic nuclear forces has begun.”

But despite the saber rattling, the video posted on social media does not show Russia firing its nuclear warheads.

The video released this week showed the Yars intercontinental ballistic missile. The missile was fired from the Plesetsk launch pad in northwestern Russia, the Associated Press reported.

Putin said on Tuesday that his country's nuclear arsenal was a “reliable guarantor of the country's sovereignty and security” and that Moscow was conducting “another strategic deterrence force exercise” in which the use of nuclear weapons would be controlled by firing ballistic and cruise missiles will be worked out.

The video posted by Nawfal was from another account, posted on October 29, 2024, and was viewed 326,600 times, with the description: “JUST IN: Russia successfully tests launch of Yars ICBM.”

This original video was published on October 29, 2024 on the Telegram page of the Russian Ministry of Defense. A post on the Telegram page said: “A Yars-type intercontinental ballistic missile was fired from the Plesetsk State Test Cosmodrome at the Kura training ground in Kamchatka.”

“The nuclear-powered strategic submarine missile cruiser Novomoskovsk and the nuclear-powered submarine cruiser Knyaz Oleg launched Sineva and Bulava ballistic missiles from the waters of the Barents Sea. Long-range Tu-95MS aircraft launched air-launched cruise missiles during training.”

It added that “all missiles hit the intended targets, thus confirming the specified characteristics.”

There is no evidence that the missiles carried nuclear payloads. It may be that the synonymy between ICBMs – capable of carrying nuclear and conventional payloads – and nuclear weapons ensures that they are understood as the same thing.

The verdict

INCORRECT.

The video does not show Russia testing a nuclear weapon. The video was released this week by the Russian Defense Ministry and shows the performance of its ICBMs. There is no evidence that the missiles carried a nuclear payload.

FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's fact checking team