Kremlin Plans to Test Its Nuclear Readiness --- Tactical-weapons exercises to come in response to Western remarks on Ukraine

 

"Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his country's military to test its readiness to use tactical nuclear weapons -- a step the Kremlin said was a response to recent comments by Western officials, including warnings that European powers could do more to help Ukraine in its fight with Moscow.

Exercises involving Russia's navy and air force, along with units in the country's southern military district that oversees Crimea and other parts of Ukraine inhabited by Russians, are to begin on an undisclosed date, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the drills are a response to some Western officials' suggestions that restrictions on Kyiv's use of Western weapons should be lifted, and that Ukraine's allies could significantly increase their conflict involvement if Russia threatens major Ukrainian cities.

"This is a whole new level of escalation of tensions, it's unprecedented, and of course it requires special attention and special measures," Peskov said.

Peskov singled out French President Emmanuel Macron, who has said the West should consider sending ground troops to Ukraine if Kyiv is close to defeat.

The Kremlin spokesman also took aim at the U.K., whose foreign secretary, David Cameron, last week said Ukraine has the right to decide how to use long-range weapons provided by his country, appearing to back away from a policy banning the use of Western-supplied arms to strike Russia.

Moscow on Monday said it had summoned the U.K. ambassador and warned him that Russia may respond to any Ukrainian attack on its territory using British weapons with attacks on British bases and military equipment.

The Pentagon criticized Russia's announcement of military drills, and said it hadn't seen any change in Moscow's strategic force posture.

The announcement of Russian military drills also comes as more than a dozen member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization take part in the security alliance's largest military exercise since the Cold War, focused on Russia.

In recent weeks, Russia has taken a string of Ukrainian villages in the eastern part of the country around Avdiivka, a city its forces captured in February.

Putin has hinted on numerous occasions at his willingness to use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, and Western officials have cited the risks of nuclear escalation as they weigh what kinds of weapons to supply to Ukraine.

Ahead of his re-election for a fifth presidential term in March, Putin warned again that Russia was prepared to use nuclear weapons if it feels threatened. "They started talking about the possibility of sending NATO military contingents to Ukraine," Putin said. Russia's opponents, Putin said, "must after all realize that we too have weapons that can hit targets on their territory."

On Monday, Macron said France isn't seeking regime change in Moscow.

Tactical nuclear weapons are short-range weapons designed for use on the battlefield or to take out critical infrastructure, such as power stations. Unlike strategic nuclear weapons, they have never been constrained by any formal arms-control agreement." [1]

 Macron is already awake. He said that he dreamed about Napoleon I. David Cameron, who initiated Brexit just before the collapse of global trade, isolating and thus weakening the United Kingdom, is now rushing to initiate the exit of all humanity the way of Dodo the bird. What a terrible loser.

1. World News: Kremlin Plans to Test Its Nuclear Readiness --- Tactical-weapons exercises to come in response to Western remarks on Ukraine. Luxmoore, Matthew.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 07 May 2024: A.6.