Putin puts nuclear deterrent on 'special alert'
Russian move does not signal intent to use nuclear weapons
Gordon Corera
Security correspondent, BBC News
President Putin has ordered his military command to put nuclear forces on a "special" state of alert.
This is after what Moscow calls "aggressive statements" by Nato countries.
Russia's leader had already issued a coded warning that he was willing to use nuclear weapons as he began his invasion of Ukraine.
Last week, he warned that "whoever tries to hinder us" would see consequences "you have never seen in your history".
These words were widely interpreted as signalling a threat to use nuclear weapons if the West stood in his way.
The very public shift to high alert status is a way for Moscow to send a warning. Moving to alert status is likely to make it easier to launch weapons more quickly. But it does not mean there is a current intent to use them.
Russia has the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world but also knows that Nato also has enough to destroy Russia if they were used.
But the aim is likely to try and deter Nato support for Ukraine by creating fears over how far he is willing to go and creating ambiguity over what kind of support for Ukraine he will consider to be too much.
US calls Putin's nuclear move 'totally unacceptable'
The US has responded to President Putin's order putting Russia's nuclear forces on a "special" state of alert.
The move makes it easier to launch weapons - but our security correspondent Gordon Corera said it was a way for Russia to send a warning to Nato, rather than signalling an intent to use them.
The US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, called the move "unacceptable" in an interview with CBS News.
"It means that President Putin is continuing to escalate this war in a manner that is totally unacceptable and we have to continue to stem his actions in the strongest possible way," she said.
It is Day 5 of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine... and the much vaunted Russian Army has failed to break through to take any Ukrainian population centres.
ReplyDeleteRussian body bags are piling up.
Wankee-supplied Javelin missiles have been ripping open Russian tanks like Milo tins.. the Wankees are airlifting in 1,000 more Javelins and Stingers.
Putin is frustrated, and getting irrational...
Nah.. The fact dat 5 days of war sees very low civilian casualties just show that russia is not giving its all and never intended to occupy ukraine to begin with. If russia was just like the monkey sam state, we'd probably be seeing 30 to 50k civilian deaths by now and probably cud've taken kyiv in 3 days tops. Plus why wud russia occupy ukraine and be side by side with nato? That's plain dumb.
DeleteVolodymyr Zelenskiy, published on the Ukrainian presidency’s website early on Sunday, said the Ukrainian armed forces were in the process of setting up a foreign legion unit for international volunteers to fight against the Russian invasion.
ReplyDeleteA disguised form of NATO fighting units blend into the volunteering foreigners!
Thus Putin puts nuclear deterrent on 'special alert to backup his earlier warning of any NATO involvement in the Ukraine crisis would meet with 'Guaranteed defeat’. President Putin made the remark while supervising nuclear drills on 19Feb2022 together with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko.
I guess Ukraine's neo-Nazi segment is not enough :)
DeleteThe Azov Battalion, a neo-Nazi battalion is part of the Ukraine National Guard. That's liberal democracy for you ! These monsters are dreaded for their extreme ferocity, indulging pervasively in cruel beatings, brutal tortures and even willing to go on suicide missions ( not surprising, having had had special training given by the CIA ). During the Hong Kong riots, a small group of this Azov Battalion were sent there " to observe"...haha, great observation ! The CIA is a government all of itself, capable of almost everything. ( " Ukrainian neo-Nazis flock to the Hong Kong protest movement" Ben Norton, Dec 4, 2019 )
In 2014, in Eastern Ukraine, a pregnant woman and her husband were burned to death by Ukrainian militias, no Western media will report this. And on 19th Feb, after Putin recognized the Luhansk and Donetsk Republics, Ukrainian government forces shelled the civilian population there, killing more than 5,000 local civilians, Western media is not reporting on this. ( TASS : 19 Feb Ukrainian military fires 200 shells at Donetsk Republic over three hours )
So this is all " for liberal democracy" ? Those who highlight Ukraine as a victim have to explain WHY does Ukraine have a neo-Nazi Azov Battalion. The Acting Director of Information in Donetsk asked : Why did you remain silent for 8 years while women and children were killed in Donbass ?