The Russia is preparing aexercise to the use of tactical nuclear weapons upon order of Vladimir Putin. The president instructed him General Staff to give the go-ahead “in order to increase the readiness of non-strategic nuclear forces” to “carry out combat missions” as “response to provocative statements and at threats of individual Western officials.”
The reference is to the declarations of the French president in recent days Emmanuel Macron and the British Foreign Secretary David Cameronwhich they had respectively feared the possibility of sending troops in Ukraine and talked about the legitimacy of Kiev to strike Russian territory with weapons provided by the West. The exercises with “missile formations” will be held in the “southern military district”, that is, near theUkraineand theaviation and the Marina.
“Macron’s statements on the possible sending of troops to Ukraine mark a series of unprecedented tensions”the Kremlin spokesman said Dmitri Peskov. During the exercises – explained the Russian Ministry of Defense – “one series of measurements to practice in the preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons” and will also take part troops located near Ukraine.
Already on Friday, commenting on the statements of Macron and Cameron, the Kremlin had defined that of theElysium to consider the possibility of sending soldiers boots on the ground to support the Ukrainian resistance and a “direct escalation” Cameron’s openness to Kiev using British weapons to strike Russia. The UK minister had explicitly spoken of a “right” Ukrainian.
The use, was Moscow’s reaction, “could potentially represent a safety hazard European, the entire European security architecture”. Now comes the reply, with the start of the exercises, announced on the day of the meeting between Macron and Xi Jinping and on the eve of Victory Dayon May 9, when Russia will celebrate the Soviet success against the Nazi Germany.
The article Putin orders exercises with nuclear weapons: “A response to Western provocations” comes from Il Fatto Quotidiano.