The military exercise involved delivering a “response to an enemy nuclear strike”, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said.

State TV showed him recounting the rehearsal to President Vladimir Putin.

It comes as Russia’s parliament backed the withdrawal of Moscow’s ratification of a global treaty that bans all physical testing of nuclear warheads.

Russia and the United States conduct regular nuclear readiness simulations – Moscow has traditionally held its own towards the end of October.

The exercises this year involved “delivering a massive nuclear strike by strategic offensive forces in response to an enemy nuclear strike”, Mr Shoigu reported to President Putin.

A Kremlin statement said that “practical launches of ballistic and cruise missiles” had taken place.

A Yars intercontinental ballistic missile was fired from a test site in Russia’s far-east, and another missile was fired from a nuclear-powered submarine in the Barents Sea, the statement said.