Russian President Vladimir Putin is now ordering the defense minister and chief of staff to deploy nuclear weapons in what he calls “combat readiness.”
Case is updated!
The background to Putin’s order is the deteriorating relationship with the West over the Ukraine war. In a televised address on Sunday, Putin referred to what he described as NATO’s aggressive statements and economic sanctions imposed by Western countries on Russia.
– Western countries were not satisfied with unfriendly actions against our country in the economic field. Putin said that high-ranking officials of the main NATO countries have made aggressive statements regarding our country.
Therefore, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the Chief of the General Staff ordered the placement of nuclear forces on the so-called “combat readiness”.
Russia and the United States are the two countries in the world with the largest arsenals of nuclear weapons.
According to the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, the three who gathered for this meeting, the President, the Minister of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff, are precisely the ones who have the Russian nuclear portfolios. The newspaper wrote that two out of three bags must be activated to start a nuclear war.
Russia in recent years has had one Large arsenal of tactical nuclear weaponswhich are new and less powerful nuclear weapons.
Ukraine: It will be a catastrophe for the world
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba believes that President Vladimir Putin’s order to increase readiness regarding the country’s nuclear weapons is a strategic step ahead of talks between Ukraine and Russia.
– We consider it an attempt to increase efforts and put more pressure on the Ukrainian delegation. As I said earlier, we will enter into these conversations on a simple basis: We are going there to hear what Russia has to say and we want to say what we want to say, he says – and points to Talks between Russian and Ukrainian representatives announced on the border with Belarus.
If Putin’s order to raise the alert level on nuclear weapons is a direct threat to use those weapons against Ukraine, I have a very simple message, and he says and continues:
It will be a disaster for the world, but it will not break us.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said in a television interview with CNN that President Vladimir Putin’s statement to increase nuclear readiness is irresponsible of Putin.
– That’s serious talk. Stoltenberg says it’s another aggressive rhetoric we’ve seen in recent weeks.
He says that we now see Russia as more dangerous, and that security in the world is now in a new normal.
Expert: scary
Gunhild Hoogensen Gjørv, Professor of Security Studies at the Norwegian Arctic University (UiT), believes Putin’s statement is very dangerous:
– It’s so scary. It is at the same time, unfortunately, not surprising. He has shown that he cannot lose.
– This is beyond what Putin can defend, because even the threats that he previously claimed are not worthy of the invasion of other countries, nor the use of nuclear weapons. There is something called proportionality, which is much further than that.
Her analysis is that Putin expected the invasion to meet less resistance than he did, and that he threatens nuclear weapons because he doesn’t want to turn around.
– Because then he admits that he lost.
Is it realistic that he’s using it?
– Four weeks ago I would have said no. Now I think it’s gone so far that it’s hard to tell exactly where the line goes.
– Could it be a statement to show force without intending to use it?
Everyone knows he has it and doesn’t need it. This is also why the West is worried about Russia. It is the largest country with nuclear weapons in the world. There is nothing to tamper with.
Hoogensen Gjørv envisions Ukraine’s President Zelensky being put in a position where he might have to negotiate until there is a downsizing on the Ukrainian side just to avoid it.
How can a nuclear attack fade away?
– I think no one can know. But if he used small tactical nuclear weapons, it would affect the whole of Europe. Then there will be a lot of dead and a lot of destruction.
Many VG readers are upset with this news – what can you say to reassure them?
The good thing is that many different actors, including NATO and individual countries such as the United States, Great Britain and Ukraine, were very willing to negotiate and engage in a discussion. This cause brings together large parts of the world in a way we haven’t seen in a long time and wants to end this war.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas Greenfield takes a hard line against the Russian president:
“This means that President Putin continues to escalate this war in a totally unacceptable way and we must continue to stop his actions in the strongest possible way,” she told CBS Television.
it’s a ni earth One knows who has nuclear weapons in the world today. Russia, China, the United States, Britain and France are “legitimate” nuclear weapons states. India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea do not report their weapons.
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