Russia invades Ukraine: how to interpret Russia's announcement to put its nuclear force on “special alert”
Russian President Vladimir Putin put his nuclear deterrence forces on alert in response to what he described as “aggression” by NATO.
The measure -which does not mean that Russia intends to use these weapons- has been widely condemned by the international community.
The United States described it as “totally unacceptable”, and the head of NATO described it as “dangerous” and “irresponsible”.
But how Can this decision of the Russian president be interpreted then?
Intensification of the offensive
As explained Frank Gardner, the BBC’s security correspondent, is a sign of both President Putin’s anger at Russia’s anti-Russian sanctions West as of its persistentparanoia that your country is under threat from NATO.
Your announcement certainly caught the attention of the West nte.
This type of escalation is exactly what those in charge of designing NATO’s military operations feared and that is why the alliance has repeatedly announced that it will not send troops to help to Ukraine to repel the Russian invaders.
In various cities around the world – in the photo, Washington DC – protests have been held against Putin’s actions.
But the Russia’s offensive is not giving the expected results according to plan. On the fourth day, not a single major Ukrainian city is in Russian hands and the Russians appear to be taking heavy casualties.
This must be causing some frustration and impatience in Moscow. And it’s hard to see the proposed peace talks on the border with Belarus reaching a deal that works for both Moscow and Kiev, Gardner argues.
Putin wants Ukraine to return completely to his sphere of influence, the Zelensky government wants his country to remain independent. This doesn’t leave much room for compromise.
So, along with this Sunday’s nuclear warning to the West to back off, we are likely to see a Intensification of Russia’s offensive on Ukraine in the coming days, with even less regard for civilian casualties than has been shown so far.
Fear and ambiguity
In the opinion of Gordon Corera, also a security correspondent for the BBC , Putin had already issued a coded warning that he was prepared to use nuclear weapons when he began his invasion of Ukraine.
After the invasion, many have sought places underground to protect themselves from attacks.
Last week, he warned that “whoever tries to hinder us” will see consequences “that he has never seen in his history.”
these pal The openings were widely interpreted as a sign of a threat to use nuclear weapons if the West got in their way.
Who supports whom in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine?
The change -made so publicly- to the status of high alert is Moscow’s way of sending a warning. Going to alert status is likely to make it easier to launch weapons more quickly.
However, that does not mean that there is a current intention to use itas, hold Corera.
Russia has the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons in the world, but also knows that NATO also has enough to destroy Russia if used.
But the goal is likely to be to discourage the NATO around to his support for Ukraine creating fears about how far he is willing to reach out and create ambiguity about what kind of support for Ukraine it will consider too much.
“ Unacceptable”
Meanwhile, the reactions have not been long in coming.
The United States ambassador to the United Nations , Linda Thomas-Greenfield, described the measure as “unacceptable” in an interview with CBS News.
USA described Putin’s measures as “unacceptable”.
“It means that President Putin continues to escalate this war in a totally unacceptable way and we have to continue to stop his actions
in the strongest possible way,” he said.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki pointed out that at no time has Russia been under threat from NATO.
The unprecedented military aid the West will send to Ukraine (and Germany’s change of stance)
Putin blamed NATO leaders for allow “aggressive statements” to be made against Russia. But Psaki said that this was a familiar response from the President of Russia.
“We have seen him do this over and over again. At no time has Russia been under threat from NATO, or Russia has been under threat from Ukraine,” he told ABC News.
“All this is a pattern of President Putin and we are going to confront him”.
“We have the capacity to defend ourselves, but we must also denounce what we are seeing here from President Putin”, added the official.
“World catastrophe”
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, assured that if Russia used nuclear weapons against Ukraine, it would be a “catastrophe for the world”.
“Ukraine is not falling. We are bleeding, but we continue to defend ourselves successfully,” said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
“But it will not bring us down”, he affirmed.
Speaking at a press conference, Kuleba said: “This order from President Putin came shortly after the announcement was made about two delegations ready to meet ”.
“We see this announcement or this order as an attempt to raise the bet
and put additional pressure on the Ukrainian delegation”.
“But we will not give in to this pressure. We will approach these conversations with a very simple approach. We go there to listen [lo que] Russia has to say and we will tell them what we think of all this”.
And added: “Ukraine is not falling. We are bleeding, but we continue to defend ourselves successfully.”
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