La Russia has "more advanced" nuclear weapons than the USA and "from a technical-military point of view" is ready to use them: this is the threat of Vladimir Putin in announcing troops on the border with Finland which had just joined NATO. During the night, an air raid warning was raised in the Russian regions of Belgorod and Kursk, on the border with Ukraine.
Putin and the nuclear threat
The warning on the use of nuclear power, launched by Vladimir Putin in an interview on state television, he is accompanied by a reference to Moscow's military doctrine, which allows the use of nuclear weapons only as a response to threats "to the existence" of the state or to its "sovereignty and independence". And from the addition of never having thought of using tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine in 2022, denying news circulating in the US. A reassurance that does not entirely convince our Western neighbors. Especially since Putin has announced that he wants to deploy his troops along the border with Finland, just entered in NATO together with Sweden. “An absolutely meaningless step for the two countries from the point of view of protecting their national interests,” said the head of the Kremlin, because “we had no troops there and now they will be there, there were no destruction systems and now will appear." The Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo he responded by underlining that his country will work on "strengthening defense and strengthening borders", which he defined as "fundamental pillars".
Putin, the White House's reply
“The rhetoric of Russia on nuclear power has been reckless and irresponsible since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine." The White House said this, commenting on the statements of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who threatened to use nuclear power.
Russia, what will Putin's fifth term in the Kremlin be like?
How will the fifth term of Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin? He explained this in part in his recent speech on the state of the union to the Federal Assembly, and the country's budget for 2024 highlights it in part, a budget dominated by defense spending - which this year will account for the six percent of GDP, with 30 percent of public spending allocated to expenses for the military sector - and the latest repressive actions.
Russia is preparing for a long war. The level of challenge to the West will remain high, so the dominance of conflict and instability will be extended in the coming years. Whether with traditional means or with hybrid tools. In the region of Transnistria, included within the internationally recognized borders of Moldova, a non-NATO country, therefore, like Ukraine, not automatically defended by article five of the Treaty of the Atlantic Alliance, in the Baltics, or even just with the movement towards the West of the front line in Ukraine.
Russia's economy has been transformed: the military industrial sector works at full speed, provides work together with the armed forces, and drives the rest of the productive activities. “The war against Ukraine and the West is no longer just the Kremlin's main priority: it is now also the main driver of the country's economic growth,” the two analysts acknowledged Pavel Luzin e Alexandra Prokopenko, in an article for Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
