Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has ordered his country’s nuclear weapons squad to be on high alert.
Mr Putin, in a televised address Sunday, said Western countries have imposed harsh economic sanctions on Russia that were “illegitimate.”
“Western countries aren’t only taking unfriendly economic actions against our country, but leaders of major Nato countries are making aggressive statements about our country.
“So I order to move Russia’s deterrence forces to a special regime of duty,” Mr Putin said as transcribed by Max Seddon of the Financial Times.
The sanctions followed Mr Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, triggering a humanitarian crisis in that hitherto peaceful country.
Ukrainians have continued to resist the Russians’ attempts to take over their country, dragging the war into a fourth day in a surprise to the rest of the world.
Russian military generals, including Sergey Shoygu, flanked Mr Putin during the address.
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In June 2020, Putin signed a policy document on nuclear deterrence called “Basic Principles of State Policy of the Russian Federation on Nuclear Deterrence.”
The document presents four scenarios that might warrant nuclear use.
One of the scenarios in which Russia “reserves the right to use nuclear weapons” includes: “when Moscow is acting “in response to the use of nuclear and other types of weapons of mass destruction against it and/or its allies”.
The President had cited aggressive statements by NATO leaders and economic sanctions against Moscow owing to the current crisis with Ukraine.
Putin ordered the Russian Defense Minister and Chief of the Military’s General Staff to put the nuclear deterrent forces in a “special regime of combat duty.”
Putin said: “As you can see, not only do Western countries take unfriendly measures against our country in the economic dimension – I mean the illegal sanctions that everyone knows about very well.
“But also the top officials of leading NATO countries allow themselves to make aggressive statements with regards to our country.”
Details shortly…
