Nuclear weapons in the event of an “existential threat”
Moscow will use nuclear weapons in Ukraine only in the event of an “existential threat” against Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told CNN on Tuesday.
“We have an internal security doctrine, it is public, you can read there all the reasons for the use of nuclear weapons. And if it’s an existential threat to our country, then they can be used in accordance with our doctrine,” he said.
A few days after the start of the war, the Russian president had placed his nuclear arsenal on alert, triggering a chorus of international protests.
“We have seen nothing that leads us to conclude that we need to change our strategic posture of deterrence,” responded Pentagon spokesman John Kirby.
TotalEnergies withdraws from Russia
The global hydrocarbon giant TotalEnergies is distancing itself from Russia by announcing that it will renounce all purchases of Russian oil or petroleum products by the end of the year at the latest.
The French company explained in a press release on Tuesday that it was taking “additional measures” in the face of “the worsening of the conflict” in Ukraine.
Concretely, it will seek alternative supplies – in particular via imports by Poland – for its Leuna refinery located in eastern Germany. The decision also applies to diesel, which Europe is very fond of.
TotalEnergies had already announced that it would no longer provide capital for new projects in Russia, without however withdrawing from the country.
Brain drain
About 70,000 computer scientists have already left Russia and some 100,000 others could join them, the Russian news agency Interfax warned on Tuesday.
According to the Russian Association of Electronic Communications quoted by Interfax, this “second wave” of emigration is only slowed down by the sanctions, the high cost of housing and the price of plane tickets. An expert in the field explained that Russian programmers are largely connected to the West, that “such a demolition of the system makes them tremble” and therefore that they “need to be reassured”.
To counter this exodus, the Russian government will exempt all IT companies from tax and inspection for three years and will offer a “suspension of military conscription” to their employees.
The muffled criticism
A Russian judge sentenced the Kremlin’s main political opponent, Alexei Navalny, to nine years in a colony with drastic conditions.
The sentence pronounced Tuesday against Mr. Navalny cancels and replaces that of two and a half years which he was already serving. The opponent, imprisoned for fraud in early 2021, was sentenced this time for “fraud” and “contempt of a magistrate”, charges he considers political.
Barring an unlikely victory on appeal, he will have to be detained in one of the “severe regime” colonies, isolated places where conditions are much harsher than in so-called “general” colonies such as the one where he is currently incarcerated.
Mr. Navalny has never stopped calling for demonstrations against the conflict despite the risks involved.
With Agence France-Presse