MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday ordered his military command to place Russia’s nuclear deterrent force on combat alert, in response to what he said were aggressive statements from NATO member states and economic sanctions. against Moscow.
“I order the Minister of Defense and the Chief of Staff to put the deterrent forces of the Russian army on a special combat duty regime,” Vladimir Putin told Russian television.
“As you can see, not only Western countries are taking unfriendly measures against our country in the economic sphere – I mean the illegal sanctions that everyone knows very well – but senior officials from major NATO countries allow themselves to make aggressive statements about our country,” he said.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Vladimir Putin was knowingly fabricating threats to justify his attack.
“We have seen it done many times. Russia has never been under threat from NATO, nor under threat from Ukraine,” she said.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg denounced “dangerous rhetoric” and irresponsible behavior on the part of the Russian president.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US Ambassador to the United Nations, castigated a “totally unacceptable” escalation. “We must continue to limit his actions with the utmost firmness,” she said on CBS.
(Report Dmitri Antonov, with Doina Chiacu Washington; written by Jean-Stphane Brosse)