Putin signals escalation by putting nuclear deterrent forces on high alert
Russian President Vladimir Putin has put Russia’s nuclear forces on high alert during the fourth day of fighting in Ukraine on Sunday as the west stepped up its efforts to impose toughest sanctions to punish Moscow.
Putin ordered to put the strategic nuclear forces on special alert because of of the West’s “unfriendly economic actions” as well as the “aggressive” rhetoric against Moscow.
This is the first time Russia’s nuclear forces were transferred to high alert mode since the end of the Cold War. The order does not mean Russia intends to use the weapons but is preparing nuclear weapons for increased readiness.
White House condemns Russian move
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that Putin’s decision to put Russia’s deterrence forces on high alert are part of a wider pattern of unprovoked escalation and “manufactured threats” from the Kremlin.
“This is really a pattern that we’ve seen from President Putin through the course of this conflict, which is manufacturing threats that don’t exist in order to justify further aggression and the global community and the American people should look at it through that prism,” Psaki told ABC. The United States is open to providing additional assistance to Ukraine, Psaki said. Washington also has not taken sanctions targeting Russia’s energy sector off the table, Psaki added.
Putin’s move was “yet another escalatory and totally unnecessary step,” a senior administration official told CNN.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has provoked an unprecedented global political, strategic and economic response.
“With this war on Ukraine, the world will never be the same again,” European Union foreign policy chief Josef Borrell wrote in an opinion piece in the Guardian newspaper.
“It is now, more than ever, the time for societies and alliances to come together to build our future on trust, justice and freedom. It is the moment to stand up and to speak out. “Might does not make right. Never did. Never will,” he said.
The 27-nation European Union has decided for the first time in its history to supply weapons to a country at war to support Ukraine facing Russian aggression.
