Vladimir Putin's Nuclear Threats

"[Moscow is ready to use nuclear weapons in case of a threat to] the existence of the Russian state, our sovereignty and independence."

"All that is written in our strategy, we haven't changed it."

"...The nations that say they have no red lines regarding Russia should realize that Russia won't have any red lines regarding them, either."

Russian President Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin told an interviewer with Russian state television this week that Russia's nuclear forces are in full readiness and "from the military-technical viewpoint, we're prepared." (Gavriil Grigorov/Reuters)

Russians have given Vladimir Putin a 'landslide' victory in the latest election to hand him another term in office, concluded on Sunday. Of course, this is a mere formality. The Russian vote was a foregone conclusion. Vladimir Putin seems himself as president-for-life. He changed the constitution, he ensured that greater powers would accumulate to him as president of the nation. And he has Russia in an iron grip no less fierce than Stalin's. He is Russia's latest thug-in-residence.

 

Political opposition knows their days are numbered. Those who oppose his Czarist reign can be reached wherever they are -- poison works well in the United Kingdom. Sharpshooters do their business at Putin's behest. Critics have a short lifespan. It's the Russian way, it's Putin's specialty. Alexei Navalny knew very well that if poison didn't work, imprisonment and death would catch up to him. Wealth and position represent no barriers to murder-by-fiat courtesy of Vladimir Putin.

 

Mysterious defenestrations, hangings, suspiciously awkward suicides of politically connected men for whom a whisper of suspicion is enough to auger death. Living in palatial mansions, owning vast fortunes no protection whatever. The Anti-Corruption Foundation will also have a limited lifespan. It will be forced underground, where it can produce Samisdat publications for believers in a better Russia at some future date.

 

A man walks past a Russian armed forces recruitment ad in the centre of Moscow, Russia  (Alexander Zemlianichenko/Associated Press)

In the meantime, Vladimir Putin pursues his vendetta against a Ukraine that insists it is an autonomous, sovereign state, against the Kremlin's assertion it is merely a part of Russia. The Democratic nations of the world, Western Europe, North America, Ukraine's near neighbours in Eastern Europe condemn and fear Russia's territorial ambitions. Their obligation to shield themselves from an eventuality similar to Ukraine's is to support the embattled country in its battle for survival against a ruthless, deadly enemy.

 

It is those supporting nations that Putin has placed on notice that he would not be totally averse to using nuclear weaponry. Russia-Putin own a vast array of nuclear warheads, some strategic and of limited impact, others devastatingly destructive. Vladimir Putin has given warning time and again that the world should remember his nation is well nuclear-armed. Escalation would trigger bringing out the weapons that his military has been ordered to prepare for use.

 

French President Emmanuel Macron's statement asserting the possibility of Western troops in Ukraine is one of Mr. Putin's 'red lines'. Vladimir Putin reminds the world that Ukraine is on the losing end of the conflict, and an agreement to end the war on Russian terms will be inevitable. Whereas Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responds that Russia will be defeated, and the conflict in Ukraine will see it victorious in its self-defence, with the Russian military withdrawing, tails between legs.

 

The deal to end the war, Putin says, "...should not be a break for the enemy to rearm, but a serious talk involving the guarantees of security for the Russian Federation".  Accusing Ukraine of attempting to derail Russia's three-day presidential election through a recent uptick in drone attacks deep within Russia's geography.

 

Ukraine's success with naval drones dates back to the 2022 attack on the flagship Admiral Makarov, which was badly damaged   MAX DELANY/AFP

 

In fact, a major attack of Ukrainian drones saw one hit an oil refinery in the Ryazan region, another was downed by the Russian Defence Ministry by its air defences as it approached a refinery close to St. Petersburg. A series of successful attacks have been launched by Ukrainian forces on Russia's naval and air assets in the Black Sea region. In the process such strikes cripple Moscow's naval capacity, forcing the limitation of Black Sea operations.

Footage released by Ukraine purported to show the Sergey Kotov being sunk by drones  Ministry of Defense of Ukraine