Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered this Sunday to activate his nuclear arsenal “in special combat mode”. “Senior officials from leading NATO countries make aggressive statements against our country. Therefore, I order the Minister of Defense [Serguéi Shoigú] and the Chief of the General Staff [Valeri Guerásimov] that the containment forces of the Russian Army have in a special mode of combat service”, Putin said during a meeting this Saturday with the two heads of his armed forces. The President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces received a “yes” and a nod in response from both soldiers. Later, Putin accused the West of taking “illegitimate measures” against his country in the form of sanctions. The latest include the disconnection of several of its main banks from the Swift system and the freezing of the fund of some 570,000 million euros in foreign reserves that the Russian central bank has kept these years to face contingencies. Putin, during his televised appearance, has justified his measure by pointing directly to the sanctions approved by the West and the “aggressive” declarations made by NATO member countries.
During the negotiations held these months with the United States and NATO, Putin has warned on several occasions that he would adopt “technical-military measures” if the talks fail and his main demands are not met, such as expelling all countries from the Atlantic Alliance. members incorporated after 1997, including the Baltics, Poland and Romania, or the missiles located in Germany moved east.
One of his answers is already known: the total invasion launched against Ukraine. Another step that worried the West is the possible deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus, whose regime has called a constitutional referendum this Sunday that, among other initiatives, will legally allow Russian missiles to be deployed on its territory.
Belarusian President Alexandr Lukashenko has raised this measure on occasion, although it has so far been rejected by the Kremlin.
The Russian president exhibited his nuclear arsenal just a week ago, on February 19, when his armed forces tested all the new generation Russian missiles at the same time as the joint military exercises were held in Belarus, which would ultimately be one of the the bodies that would assault Ukraine in the invasion ordered by Putin. In those exercises he fine-tuned his new hypersonic rockets, presented by the president before the National Assembly in March 2018 as “invulnerable” weapons against NATO’s anti-missile shield.
Russia’s strategic containment forces include all of its nuclear missiles, including those with intercontinental range, as well as its anti-missile defense systems and its non-nuclear strategic forces. The latter also include long-range bombers and submarines, surface ships and aircraft capable of carrying conventional long weapons, as described by the Ministry of Defense.
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At the time that Putin made this announcement, it has transpired that Russian and Ukrainian authorities have agreed to sit down to negotiate a way out of the war ordered by Vladimir Putin. The spokesman for the Russian president, Dmitri Peskov, announced this Sunday that a delegation from the Government of Volodímir Zelenski is on its way to the Belarusian region of Gomel, near the border with Ukraine, where representatives of the Kremlin are already waiting for it. The initiative has gone ahead after several tug-of-war on the meeting place. The negotiations began last Friday with the mediation of the Lukashenko regime. Kiev wanted to celebrate them in the Polish capital, Warsaw, and Moscow intended to meet in Minsk, Belarus, where the 2014 and 2015 peace agreements were signed to stop the war in eastern Ukraine with the pro-Russian separatists, supported financially and militarily. through Moscow.
President Zelenski has reported through his Telegram channel, first, that he has had a conversation with Lukashenko and, a few minutes later, has confirmed that the meeting between the parties will be held without conditions. After four days of Russian offensive, at least 198 people have lost their lives on Ukrainian soil, while more than 360,000 have crossed the border to flee the violence.
Moscow Ultimatum
“As is known, President Lukashenko has spoken on the phone with Zelensky. After the call, President Lukashenko asked President Putin not to withdraw the Russian delegation because the Ukrainians have expressed their intention, showing signs of it, to go to Gomel to talk. The Russian side and his delegation are fully prepared for it and are waiting for the Ukrainians, ”Peskov stated.
According to the Russian version of events, the Ukrainian response has reached the point of expiry of the Moscow ultimatum. “We received confirmation from the Ukrainian side literally at three in the afternoon,” Presidential adviser Vladimir Medinski assured in an interview with Rossiya 24. “The Russian delegation is ready to negotiate at any time of the day or night to seal the peace,” he added.
The initiative has gone ahead after several tug-of-war on the meeting place. The negotiations began last Friday with the mediation of the Belarusian Lukashenko regime. Kiev wanted to hold them in the Polish capital, Warsaw, and Moscow intended to meet in Minsk, Belarus, where the 2014 and 2015 peace agreements were signed to resolve the war in eastern Ukraine with the pro-Russian separatists, supported financially and militarily by the Kremlin. The Russian government accused Kiev of having delayed the talks to reinforce itself in residential areas, and on Saturday, Putin ordered to intensify the offensive from all sides. Zelensky’s spokesman, Sergii Nykyforov, denied this accusation: “Ukraine has been and continues to be ready to talk about a ceasefire and peace.”
Both sides will sit down to negotiate late on the fourth day of the Russian offensive. Before beginning its attack, the Kremlin had deployed some 129,000 military personnel around Ukraine, plus a vast arsenal that included numerous tanks, artillery, planes and ships brought to the Black Sea from the Baltic and Northern fleets, according to reports. Kiev intelligence. The Russian Defense Ministry has not yet reported a single casualty among its ranks. After four days of fighting and intense bombing, Russian troops are close to the two largest cities in the country, Kiev and Kharkov, and continue their offensive to try to unite the strip that joins the Crimean peninsula with the separatist area of the Donbas region.
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