Moscow, Jul 31 (IANS): The third stage of Russia's non-strategic nuclear exercises has begun, which focuses on the preparation of units for the combat use of non-strategic nuclear weapons, the Russian Ministry of Defense said on Wednesday on its Telegram channel.

It said that the exercises involve the central and southern military districts as well as the Aerospace Forces, Xinhua news agency reported.

"As part of this stage, personnel from the missile formations of the central and southern military districts will work on training and combat tasks, including receiving special training munitions for the Iskander-M operational-tactical missile systems, equipping missile carriers, and covertly moving to designated positional areas to prepare for electronic launches," said the ministry.

It added that personnel from the aviation units of the Aerospace Forces involved in the exercise would practice equipping aviation strike assets with special warheads and flying to designated patrol areas.

Earlier, as part of the first and second stages of the exercise of non-strategic nuclear forces, issues of preparing units of the southern and Leningrad military districts, units of the Aerospace Forces and the navy for the combat use of non-strategic nuclear weapons were worked out.