Putin threatens to attack the United Kingdom and simulates nuclear war – 05/06/2024 – World

The escalation of tensions between Vladimir Putin’s government and the West reached a new level this Monday (6), with Russia threatening to attack UK military targets if British weapons are used against its territory by Ukraine.

Furthermore, Putin ordered a tactical nuclear weapons attack exercise in response to the suggestion of Western governments, mainly France, to send soldiers to help Kiev resist the Russian invasion.

The message was given to the British ambassador in Moscow, Nigel Casey, who was summoned to the Russian chancellery. According to the Tass agency, he was informed that London facilities in the United Kingdom, Ukraine and other countries would be legitimate targets.

It was a response to the provocation made by British Chancellor David Cameron, who last week stated that Ukrainians could use the weapons that London supplies to the country in any way they wanted. Until now, all Western countries, starting with the United States, conditioned military aid on its exclusive use on Ukrainian territory.

The reason, obviously, is the fear of an escalation that could lead to a clash between Western and Russian forces, which could easily lead to a nuclear war with unpredictable consequences. The United Kingdom, a member of NATO (Western military alliance), has 225 atomic warheads, compared to almost 6,000 Russian warheads.

The main and most feared weapon supplied by the United Kingdom to Kiev so far is the Storm Shadow cruise missile, with stealth characteristics. It has already been used against Crimea, a peninsula that Putin annexed in 2014, but never against recognized Russian territory.

The announcement of the nuclear simulation is a direct response to French President Emmanuel Macron and British and American politicians who have defended the sending of forces to Kiev. “We hope this cools down the hotheads in Western capitals,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The ministry also reaffirmed that it considers that the American F-16 fighter jets to be sent to Ukraine can carry nuclear weapons, although it is obvious that this capability will not be given to Kiev.

Kiev’s military spy agency called the exercises “nuclear blackmail.” This Monday, Macron meets with Putin’s main ally, Chinese leader Xi Jinping, in Paris.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov also said Moscow’s intelligence services were investigating reports that France had already sent soldiers from its Foreign Legion to Ukraine. Volunteers and mercenaries from different nations, including Brazil, are fighting for the neighboring country, but so far there has been no official deployment of troops in support of Kiev.

Later, the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the French ambassador to Moscow, without explaining the reason. The French Foreign Ministry published a statement denying having sent forces to Ukraine.

Russian Defense had specifically cited the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons systems, evoking one of the West’s greatest fears: that Putin would use this type of bomb against forces from Ukraine or, now, from allied countries that would eventually send military personnel to war. started in 2022.

Tactical weapons are those fired against specific military targets, such as bases, usually with less power than so-called strategic ones — the warheads that aim to obliterate entire cities in an attempt to end conflicts.

The nuclear card has become a triviality in Russian war rhetoric. Shortly before the invasion, in February 2022, Putin ordered a complex exercise with several nuclear systems, involving missiles fired from the ground, bombers and submarines.

When attacking, he said that any country that intervened in favor of Ukraine would suffer consequences never before seen in history, a somewhat subtle reference to its atomic bombs. Russia and the USA concentrate 90% of the more than 12 thousand warheads on the planet.

Throughout the war, the shadow of nuclear escalation modulated the speed and quality of aid sent by the West to Volodymir Zelensky’s government.

Pressured on the battlefield by Russian advances in the east this year, Zelensky has carried out specific attacks on refineries and cities in Putin’s land, but for now with his own weapons.

One of these actions occurred this Monday and was particularly deadly. A drone attack near Belgorodo (southern Russia) left at least seven people dead, according to the local government. Another 35 were injured when the device hit a minibus.

Also on Monday, the Russians announced that they had conquered two more small towns in eastern Ukraine, increasingly threatening Chasiv Iar, a springboard for the final seizure of the province of Donetsk. There is speculation that this is the trophy that Putin wants to show at the Second World War Victory Day parade, next Thursday (9).

The Russian leader will have a busy week: this Tuesday (7), he will officially assume the Presidency for the fifth time — in a ceremony that, in principle, would be attended by the French ambassador, but not other Western representatives.

Western analysts have always speculated that, if threatened with decisive defeat, Putin could resort to tactical weapons against Ukraine. As this is now ruled out, the hypothesis of sending troops reiterated by Macron makes the ghost resurface.

The Russian president himself said, on several occasions, that the Frenchman’s idea would lead to a nuclear war. Now, the Kremlin has decided to take the rhetorical dispute up a notch with the exercises, which will involve forces from its Southern Military Command and the Navy on an undisclosed date.

For tactical use, Russia has at its disposal missiles such as the ballistic Iskander-M or the hypersonic Tsirkon, launched from ships and which can theoretically carry a small nuclear warhead, in addition to free-fall bombs. NATO, the Western military alliance, believes that Moscow has around 2,000 of these weapons, compared to 100 that the US maintains in bombs dropped from planes in Europe.

In Russia, radical commentators and politicians have advocated the use of tactical weapons to draw a line on the ground for the West, but any nuclear expert points to the clear risk of an escalation leading to an exchange of fire with strategic missiles, leading to to apocalyptic scenarios.