Vladimir Putin puts Russia’s nuclear deterrence forces on high alert
The Guardian
Vladimir Putin has ordered his military to put Russia’s nuclear deterrence forces on high alert, as his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, announced that a delegation from Kyiv would meet Russian officials without preconditions on his country’s border with Belarus.
On the fourth day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv remained in Ukrainian control, while officials claimed they had repelled an attack on Kharkiv, the country’s second largest city, where street fighting was taking place.
Thousands of Ukrainian civilians, mainly women and children, were fleeing from the Russian assault into neighbouring countries.
Putin’s order came at a meeting between the president, the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, and the chief of the general staff of the armed forces of Russia, Valery Gerasimov.
“Senior officials of the leading Nato countries also allow aggressive statements against our country, therefore I order the minister of defence and the chief of the general staff [of the Russian armed forces] to transfer the deterrence forces of the Russian army to a special mode of combat duty,” Putin said in televised comments.
“Western countries aren’t only taking unfriendly actions against our country in the economic sphere, but top officials from leading Nato members made aggressive statements regarding our country.
It is not immediately clear what the “special mode of combat duty” entails. Pavel Podvig, a Geneva-based analyst and head of the Russian Nuclear Forces project, said it was hard to tell what the order meant but that it may be a “preliminary command”. It made a retaliatory strike possible, he said. “But does not mean preparation for a first strike.”
It does not appear to be the highest level of readiness, including bombers being loaded with weapons and taking off. “It is an action that makes the command and control able to react if necessary,” said Podvig. “But it’s a pretty high level.” ...
Other perspectives are numerous.
NY Times: "U.S. deflects Putin’s nuclear alert as another effort at escalation."
The White House avoided a heated response to President Vladimir V. Putin’s announcement that he was putting Russia’s nuclear forces on alert, casting it as another example of Mr. Putin’s moves to imagine a threat and escalate the confrontation with the West.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/27/world/europe/us-putin-nuclear-alert.html
This announcement comes amidst a tremendous amount of news much of which I'm only catching up on:
- The US Department of Defence asserts that Russian forces have gained control of no Ukranian cities, though they have begun using seige techniques which greatly increase risks to civillians.
- Ukraine and Russia will hold talks via delegates at the Ukraine-Belerus border.
- Protests against the war throughout Russia.
- Confirmation that Anonymous hacks of Russian broadcasters telling truth of war in Ukraine have occurred.
- Closure of EU airspace to Russian air traffic, including the private jets of Russian oligarchs.
- The European Union specifically supporting Ukraine with arms shipments, with statements by EU President Ursula von der Leyen.
- Turkey delcaring Russia's action in Ukraine a "war". NY Times: "Turkey will implement a 1936 international treaty that would potentially ban both Ukrainian and Russian warships from passing through the straits connecting the Black Sea to the south, Turkey's top diplomat said on Sunday."
- Relationship of the Ukraine war to the first impeachment of former US president Donald John Trump "for withholding military aide to Ukraine to try to force Ukraine’s president to dig up dirt on his Democratic rival, Joseph R. Biden Jr" (NY Times).
- BP to ‘exit’ its 20 percent stake in the Russian oil company Rosneft. (NY Times).
- Japaan joins SWIFT exclusion of selected Russian banks.
- Britain’s top diplomat says she would support people going to fight for Ukraine. (NY Times)
- Germany's chancellor Olaf Scholz pledging to greatly increase Germany's military spending: "Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced a significant increase in military spending, reversing the country’s longstanding policy that has favored deterrence over conflict. Mr. Scholz announced a one-time increase of 100 billion euros ($113 billion) for defense spending and a pledge to spend more than 2 percent of Germany’s economic output annually on defense. He also proposed enshrining that threshold in the country’s Constitution, ensuring that future governments follow it." (NY Times)
#Ukraine #Russia #VladimirPutin #NuclearAlert #War Germany #EU, #OlafScholz #Trump #Impeachment #UrsulaVonDerLeyen
