MOSCOW (dpa-AFX) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed that the nuclear power’s deterrent weapons be put on special alert. Putin ordered this on Sunday in a video distributed by the Kremlin. He spoke of deterrent weapons and did not explicitly mention nuclear weapons. “The top figures of the leading NATO countries are allowing aggressive statements against our country, so I order the Minister of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff to put the forces of deterrence of the Russian army into a special regime of alert.”
Putin also said: “You can see that the Western countries are not only taking unfriendly actions against our country. In the economic sphere – I mean the illegitimate sanctions that everyone is well aware of.” The EU and US had previously imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia.
In his statement on the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine last Thursday, Putin warned against engaging in aggression against Russia. He threatened the severest consequences and emphasized that Russia is now one of “the most powerful nuclear powers in the world”. Putin also held a large-scale exercise by the nuclear forces on February 19. Weapons without nuclear warheads were used.
After Putin’s speech, the Stockholm peace research institute Sipri announced that it did not expect the Ukraine war to lead to the use of nuclear weapons. “I don’t think nuclear war is a likely consequence of this crisis,” said Sipri Director Dan Smith of the German Press Agency in Scandinavia. “Unfortunately, if nuclear weapons exist, then of course there is always this small possibility. And that would be catastrophic.”/mau/DP/he