Russia's Strategic Missile Forces have begun wide-range exercises in 12 regions in the country, the Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday.

"Russia's SMF with more than 30 missile battalions in 12 regions in Russia (from the Tver to the Irkustsk regions) are taking part in drills. There are both mobile and stationary SMF groups participating," the ministry said in a statement.

The war games are meant to test the troops' combat readiness, drill maneuver operations on patrol routes, actions to counter subversive and terrorist acts, as well as high-precision strikes, the defense ministry said.

The drills will involve Engineer Troops and Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops, who will respond to a mock enemy attack close to patrol routes.

On Tuesday, the Russian Pacific Ocean Fleet began week-long snap drills off the far eastern Kamchatka coast.

Russia's Strategic Missile Forces are the arm of the country's Armed Forces and the main component of it's strategic nuclear forces. Their main goals include nuclear deterrence of a possible aggression and the defeat of possible enemy's strategic objects of military and economic potential by means of nuclear missile attacks.