Russian President Vladimir Putin once again put
the nuclear card
on the table due to the lack of progress on the Ukrainian front during the winter campaign and in an attempt to force the West to give up, in the long term, arming the enemy army.
Putin announced the agreement for the early deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus just four days after demanding the United States in a joint statement with Chinese leader Xi Jinping to withdraw its nuclear arsenals abroad
.
Precisely, Xi warned him in Moscow that this was a red line that no one should cross, since in a nuclear war "there are no winners."
All of this comes as
Russian forces have markedly reduced the intensity
of their attacks on Bakhmut, according to Western intelligence, even though Ukrainian defenders believe the battle for that Donbas stronghold is not yet over.
Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko, good allies.
Photo Reuters
war of nerves
In an interview with Russian television, Putin accused the West of trying to
torpedo the state visit of Xi
, received as a savior in the Kremlin, where both leaders discussed the Chinese peace plan for Ukraine.
In this regard, Putin
denied that Moscow and Beijing have a "military alliance"
and are a threat to the world, and instead accused NATO of creating a "global axis" similar to the one that Nazi Germany forged with Italy and Japan. in the 30s of the 20th century.
In addition to the fact that the International Criminal Court ordered Putin's arrest on the eve of the visit, the European Union announced on the same Monday, the day Xi arrived in Moscow, the shipment of one million projectiles to Ukraine, a figure that the leader himself Russian considered "more than decent".
To this must be added the UK's announcement that it will supply Kiev
with depleted uranium ammunition,
which the Kremlin chief described as weapons with a "nuclear component".
Putin's revenge was not long in coming.
With the excuse of depleted uranium, on Saturday he assured that the training of the Belarusian military for the use of tactical nuclear weapons will begin on April 3 and on July 1 the silo that will house them will be built in a country that shares a border with Ukraine and NATO.
"Putin has deprived himself of the moral card of defender of the nuclear non-proliferation regime, without receiving anything in return," Maxim Starchak, an expert on nuclear policy, told the online newspaper Meduza.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenskiy with soldiers in the Donetsk region.
Photo Reuters
A streetlight
Starchak considers that with this decision Putin wants to force the US to
accept its territorial conquests in Ukraine as "a fait accompli"
, or else there will be no opportunity to talk about agreements on strategic disarmament.
Instead, in his opinion, the lukewarm reaction of the US and NATO shows that it has not succeeded, since the White House does not want to participate in that haggling and does not want
the "nuclear factor"
to be part of the arrangement equation in Ukraine.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) considers that the Kremlin tenant's announcement
is "irrelevant"
in the context of a possible nuclear escalation, the possibility of which it continues to consider "extremely low."
"Putin is trying to exploit Western fears of a possible nuclear escalation," he argued.
Kiev called on Sunday for
a UN Security Council meeting
as Russia uses its arsenal "as a threat and intimidation tool."
Meanwhile, the high representative of Foreign Policy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, assured EFE in Santo Domingo that Putin's announcement represents
"another escalation of the conflict"
, a comment that does not contradict his recent statement that Xi's visit to Russia reduced "the risk of nuclear war."
arms race
It did not end there.
Putin also warned NATO countries that they will not be able to keep
up with Russia's conventional
weapons production , which will produce and modernize 1,600 tanks this year, compared with the 400-something Kiev will receive from the allies.
The ISW considers some of those claims to be false.
Remember that the main Russian tank factory, UralVagonZabod, produces 20 tanks per month, when the Russian army
loses 150 tanks per month on the battlefield.
Furthermore, he considers the American Abrams, the German Leopards and the British Challengers to be
superior to the Russian T-55s, T-62s and even T-71s.
Be that as it may, Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski assured that there will be no counteroffensive until kyiv receives enough Western ammunition.
Russian and Ukrainian war reports on Sunday reported fighting along the entire front line, but especially in Bakhmut, where
the Russians are continuing their failed assault operations.
Source: EFE
bp
look too
Ukraine demands a UN meeting to end Russia's "nuclear blackmail"
Russia-Ukraine war, LIVE: "Dangerous and irresponsible", NATO's harsh criticism of Russia's nuclear rhetoric
