Tactical nuclear weapons have a lower yield compared to massive warheads that arm intercontinental ballistic missiles 

Russia has warned it could target British military sites as it announced snap nuclear weapons drills in response to “provocative” comments by Lord Cameron and Emmanuel Macron.

The country’s foreign ministry summoned Britain’s ambassador on Monday to protest the Foreign Secretary’s backing for Kyiv to fire British-made weapons into Russia.

“An answer to a Ukrainian strike on Russia using British weapons would be made against any British military facilities or equipment in Ukraine and beyond,” the ministry said in a statement.

France’s ambassador in Moscow was also summoned to the ministry for a complaint about President Emmanuel Macron after he said that French soldiers could be sent to Ukraine.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said that striking Russia with Nato missiles and deploying Nato forces to Ukraine were red lines that should not be crossed.

He added: “They were talking about being prepared and even intending to send armed deployments to Ukraine, which is essentially putting Nato soldiers against the Russian military.

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“This is a completely new round of escalating tensions. It is unprecedented and requires special measures.”

It came as Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, ordered his army to simulate the use of tactical nuclear weapons over the “threats” from Britain and France.

The Russian defence ministry told its Southern Military District, which borders eastern Ukraine, to hold tactical nuclear weapon drills “to practice the preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons”.

“We hope that this event will cool down the ‘hotheads’ in Western capitals,” it added.

Drills ‘soon’

Russia’s military doctrine allows it to use tactical nuclear weapons on battlefields and it has previously threatened to fire them at Ukrainian forces in Donbas.

Tactical nuclear weapons are small missiles and bombs designed to destroy large numbers of enemy units on a battlefield, rather than strategic intercontinental ballistic missiles which can wipe out cities.

Rocket, naval and aviation forces would hold the drills “soon”, the ministry said.

Analysts said that Russia announcing the drills specifically in response to Western statements marked a fresh development in its nuclear signalling.

William Alberque, the former director of Nato’s Arms Control, Disarmament and Non-Proliferation centre, said: “My impression is that this is a clear attempt to use nuclear coercion against Macron himself for his recent statements on Ukraine and Russia.

“We are certainly embarking on unknown territory in terms of nuclear signalling.”

The Kremlin has not tested a nuclear warhead since 1990 and is a signatory to the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which bans all nuclear tests.

Even so, the Kremlin regularly makes a show of testing strategic missile systems capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

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Last year, Sergei Karaganov, chairman of Russia’s influential Council for Foreign and Defence Policy think tank, said that tactical nuclear weapons should be used in Donbas to blunt a Nato-backed Ukrainian offensive and to “lower the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons”.

‘Quite surprising’

However, Andrew Baklitskiy, Senior Researcher at the UN’s Institute for Disarmament Research, said that it was likely that Russia was planning to test tactical weapons systems rather than an actual nuclear warhead.

He said: “Even so, this is definitely nuclear signalling and what is quite surprising is how clear this is. Normally countries don’t say specifically why they are exercising their nuclear forces.”

Putin will be inaugurated for his fifth presidential term on Tuesday, meaning he will extend his rule until at least 2030.

Russia has been ramping up nuclear tension since it invaded Ukraine two years ago.

The Kremlin has delivered nuclear missiles to Belarus for the first time since the end of the Cold War and its propagandists have threatened to “sink Britain” with a nuclear attack.

It has also tested Satan II, which has been described as the “deadliest missile on the planet” and can carry up to 12 nuclear war warheads to almost any target on Earth within minutes.

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