On the fourth day of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the Russian president brandished the nuclear threat.
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Vladimir Putin announced on Sunday February 27 to put the “deterrent” of the Russian army, which may include a nuclear component, on the fourth day of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “I order the Minister of Defense and the Chief of Staff to put the Russian army deterrent forces on special combat alert regime”said the Russian president during an interview with his military leaders broadcast on television.
The autocrat justified this decision by the “bellicose declarations of NATO” towards Russia. He also criticized the economic sanctions imposed on Moscow, according to him “illegitimate”.
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The Russian deterrent forces are a set of units whose purpose is to deter an attack against Russia, “including in case of war involving the use of nuclear weapons”, according to the Department of Defense. These forces are equipped with missiles, strategic bombers, submarines and surface ships. On the defensive side, they include an anti-missile shield, space control systems, anti-aircraft and anti-satellite defense.
The alerting of the “deterrent” Russian nuclear represents an escalation “unacceptable”immediately denounced the United States, accusing Vladimir Putin of “manufacturing threats that do not exist”. “At no time has Russia been threatened by NATO or Ukraine (…) We will resist this. We have the ability to defend ourselves”, added White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki. This announcement from Moscow “means that President Putin continues to escalate this war, in a way that is totally unacceptable”said US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield. The Secretary General of NATO criticized him for a conduct “irresponsible”.
Jens Stoltenberg believes that this new statement by Vladimir Putin adds to the speech “very aggressive” coming from Russia “for several months and particularly in the last two weeks”. “They are not just threatening Ukraine, but also NATO allies, and demanding that we withdraw all our armed forces from the eastern flank of the alliance.”he added.