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Vladimir Putin has raised the specter of a nuclear conflagration in what he sees as a Russian response to the risks posed by the West.
In a speech in Red Square to mark the Soviet Union’s victory in World War II, the Russian president praised the soldiers fighting in his invasion of Ukraine and pledged to stand firm in the face of attempts Western powers to contain Russia.
“We reject the exceptionalist pretensions of any state or alliance – we know what happens when these ambitions are not kept in check,” Putin said on Thursday, apparently referring to NATO, which has expanded to include Sweden and Finland after its invasion of Ukraine.
“Russia will do everything to avoid a global conflict, but at the same time we will not let anyone threaten us. Our strategic forces are always combat ready,” Putin added, referring to Russia’s arsenal of nuclear weapons, the largest in the world.
The parade of military hardware that then took place in front of the Lenin Mausoleum outside the Kremlin culminated with three RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missile launchers, which Russia says can strike any target in the world.
Putin’s latest warning to the West comes at what the Russian leader sees as an inflection point, more than two years after the start of his full-scale war in Ukraine.
The Russian military is gradually advancing against undermanned and underequipped Ukrainian troops, who are struggling to hold their positions while awaiting the arrival of American weapons funded by the recently passed $61 billion aid package.
But the Moscow parade, staged in unseasonably heavy snow, also highlighted the losses suffered by Russia’s armed forces.
The only tank in the parade was the T-34, the legendary Soviet armored vehicle from World War II, which traditionally opens it.
Russia lost more than 3,000 tanks during the war, as many as before the invasion, according to a February report from the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Putin told his troops in Ukraine that Russia was going through a “difficult time” and said they had the support of the entire country.
In separate remarks to commanders fighting in Ukraine, which the Kremlin said were made the day before, he said Russia’s entire economic and social development depended on the success of the invasion.
“We have every chance of achieving these objectives. But on one condition: your successful work on the battlefield. This is the key link at the moment,” Putin said.
Russia has sought to dissuade the United States and its NATO allies from stepping up support for Ukraine by issuing thinly veiled threats over its nuclear arsenal.
“The Yars are floating in Red Square, and we can’t help but think that someone is planning to defeat us on the battlefield. You really want to ask them how the hell (they are going to do this),” Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the foreign news network RT, wrote on social media.
On Monday, the Defense Ministry said Putin had ordered it to hold exercises rehearsing the use of tactical nuclear weapons in response to “provocative statements” from Western leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron, who launched the the idea of sending Western troops to fight in the country. Ukraine.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Thursday that the exercises were a warning to the West not to further escalate tensions with Russia.
“We warn our adversaries that their escalatory tendencies force us to take measures aimed primarily at strengthening our deterrence,” Ryabkov said, according to Interfax.
Ryabkov also hinted that Moscow could change its nuclear doctrine, which allows a nuclear strike only in response to an enemy nuclear attack or if Russia’s very existence as a state is threatened.
“At the moment there are no such changes, but the situation itself is changing,” Ryabkov said. “The relationship between our basic documents in the field and our security requirements is therefore subject to constant analysis. »
Putin, however, downplayed the significance of the drills, the first tactical nuclear exercises Russia has ever announced in advance.
“There is nothing unusual here, this is planned work,” Putin said in his comments to commanders.
News Source : www.ft.com
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