Tag: Vladimir Putin

‘Not a bluff’: Putin threatens nuclear war, calls up thousands of reserve troops

Russian President, Vladimir Putin, holds a microphone

Micaela Burrow – September 21, 2022

Russian President Vladimir Putin doubled down on the credibility of his threats to use nuclear weapons for Russia’s self-defense in a speech Wednesday morning, in addition to calling up hundreds of thousands of additional troops for battle.

In the largest escalation since Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine in February, Putin made good on a partial mobilization for 300,000 reserve and special operations personnel in an executive order signed Wednesday. He issued veiled threats of nuclear strikes in response to the “aggressive policy of Western elites” to continue provoking Russia on the 1000-km line of contact in Ukraine and providing the Ukrainian army with weapons and supplies.

“In the event of a threat to the territorial integrity of our country and to defend Russia and our people, we will certainly make use of all weapon systems available to us. This is not a bluff,” he said.

Putin’s speech aired less than 24 hours after the Russian-installed leaders in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in Ukraine’s south, as well as the two sympathetic presidents in the eastern Donbas region, announced plans to hold referendums on acceding to the Russian Federation later in September.

Russia at present does not exercise full control over the territories. Russia’s deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitri Medvedev, said Tuesday that annexation of the regions would expand the list of possible military options amid Ukraine’s burgeoning counteroffensive in the east and south, Reuters reported.

Putin added that North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces were conducting reconnaissance operations over Russian territory and had openly discussed launching nuclear weapons against the federation, despite lack of evidence for the latter, according to The Wall Street Journal.

In the speech, Putin also accused the West of committing “nuclear blackmail” over the Zaporizhzhia power plant, after Zelenskyy said Putin was engaged in “nuclear terrorism” for its dangerous shelling in the area.

https://www.wnd.com

German Chancellor Demands Bigger EU, Less National Sovereignty for Members

Breitbart London – August 29, 2022

PRAGUE (AP) – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called Monday for a growing European Union to agree on a series of changes that would help it overcome internal divisions and stand up to external rivals such as Russia and China.

In a wide-ranging speech at Charles University in Prague, Scholz said the EU must make itself “fit” for future enlargement from 27 to 30 — or even 36 — nations by taking more decisions by majority vote, rather than requiring unanimity on all issues that has in the past allowed individual member states to veto key decisions.

“We have to remember that swearing allegiance to the principle of unanimity only works for as long as the pressure to act is low,” Scholz said, arguing that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a wake-up call for the EU to change the way it takes decisions.

Scholz suggested allowing majority decisions on pressing issues such as sanctions or human rights policy, with those unwilling to explicitly back a vote having the option to abstain without blocking unanimity.

The German leader also backed calls to reconsider the composition of the European Parliament, which currently has 751 deputies, to prevent it becoming “bloated” through future expansion. A similar reform of the way each member state is represented in the bloc’s executive Commission could see commissioners share responsibility in certain areas, he said.

With Europe lagging behind global rivals when it comes to digitalization and space exploration, Scholz said the EU could become a global leader in the transition to a greener economy that would also help it become less dependent on foreign energy suppliers.

In his address, Scholz repeatedly cited the threat posed to the EU by Russia under its authoritarian president, warning that “any disunity among us, any weakness, is grist to (Vladimir) Putin´s mill.”

“We must close ranks, resolve old conflicts and find new solutions,” he said, noting that the bloc needs to overcome long-running tensions among its members on the issues of migration and fiscal policy.

https://www.breitbart.com

UK Defence Secretary warns that Putin could declare World War III within days

Ricky Scaparo – April 29, 2022

Russian President Vladimir Putin could declare World War 3 in just two days’ time, according to the UK defense secretary. Ben Wallace said that the despot will “probably” attempt to “mobilize the Russian people” amid his failing “special military operation”.

Russian troops first crossed the border into Ukraine on February 24, claiming they wanted to “denazify” the country. Putin has also threatened to use nuclear weapons against western powers if they get in his way, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saying the threat of nuclear war “is serious”.

Now, speaking to LBC, Wallace warns that Putin may ramp up his rhetoric in the coming days. He said: “I would not be surprised . . . that he is probably going to declare on May Day that, ‘We are now at war with the world’s Nazis, and we need to mass mobilize the Russian people’.”

“Putin, having failed in nearly all objectives, may seek to consolidate what he’s got . . . and just be a sort of cancerous growth within the country. “We have to help Ukrainians effectively get the limpet off the rock and keep the momentum pushing them back.”

It is believed Mad Vlad was once hoping to use the parade to declare victory in the war in Ukraine. Chilling pictures show the might of Russia’s military rolling through the cities – with tanks and nuclear missile launchers.

Eager Russians took selfies with the military vehicles and troops – even while thousands of their soldiers have been killed and hundreds of their tanks & aircraft blown up in Ukraine. Mr. Wallace told LBC radio’s Nick Ferrari: “I would not be surprised . . . that he is probably going to declare on May Day that ‘We are now at war with the world’s Nazis and we need to mass mobilize the Russian people’.”

https://endtimeheadlines.org

Ukraine war is veering fast towards a big power conflict

Debkafiles – March 17, 2022

“Unacceptable and unforgivable,” was the Kremlin’s response to the US president’s branding of Vladimir Putin as “a war criminal,” on Wednesday, March 16. Incensed rather than cowed by sanctions and international condemnation, the Russian president is likely to double down on his war offensive against Ukraine – regardless of the spreading death, human misery and ravaged cities. An expanding confrontation therefore cannot be ruled out for the foreseeable future.

President Joe Biden spoke after the horror of Russia’s bombing of a theater in Mariupol where more than a thousand people including many children were sheltering against the constant shelling. The death toll is unknown as are the numbers still buried under the rubble while rescuers are prevented from reaching the scene.

Although the White House previously stopped short of accusing the Russians of war crimes in the Ukraine pending an investigation, President Joe Biden was now ready to say bluntly: “I think [Putin] is a war criminal.” His press secretary Jen Psaki said that Biden was “speaking from the heart” (not the head?). An investigation into war crimes was still underway, she said, aware that some form of due process is required for a charge of war crimes.

The president, however, did not stop at oratory. The $800 m military aid package he approved for Ukraine reportedly included 100 kamikaze drones, apparently referring to Switchblade 300 or Switchblade 600. (See photo.) The former can pinpoint strikes on personnel and the latter aims to destroy tanks and armored vehicles. The Switchblades are essentially robotic smart bombs equipped with cameras, guidance systems and explosives. They can be programmed to strike targets miles away and hover over objectives until ordered to strike.

The US aid package will also include 800 anti-aircraft systems, 9,000 anti-armor systems and 20 million rounds of ammunition.

Moscow was seen in Washington as expanding its targets beyond the Ukraine border with the assault by 30 Russian cruise missiles on the large Ukrainian Yavrov military facility outside Lviv near the Polish border. The Russian defense ministry said that the air strike destroyed a large quantity of weapons supplied by foreign nations and that the Yavrov base had long been used to train Ukrainian military personnel, often with instructors from the United States and other NATO countries. For Putin, this Ukrainian base embodied his complaint that NATO had expanded to Eastern Europe close to Russian territory.

https://www.debka.com

Russia declares war on Ukraine, explosions in Kyiv, Mariupol, Kharkiv, Odessa, Lvov

Debkafiles – February 24, 2022

Vladimir Putin early Thursday, Feb. 24, announced a special military operation in the Donbas “to demilitarize” the region, amid unconfirmed reports of a huge seaborne landing in the Black Sea port of Odessa. Explosions were heard in Kyiv, Mariupol, Odessa, Lvov and Kharkiv.

President Joe Biden will address the nation at noon on Thursday, after condemning Russia’s as “alone responsible” for “choosing a premeditated war” by an “unprovoked and unjustified attack.” The United States and its Allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way, he said. “The world will hold Russia accountable.”

In an early morning address, Putin said the “special military operation” he had launched comes in response to threats coming from Ukraine. He added that Russia doesn’t have a goal to occupy the country. Putin said responsibility for bloodshed “lies with the Ukrainian “regime.” He insisted that the operation was targeting military installations and avoiding populated areas. Putin told Ukrainian service members to “lay down their arms and go home.”

The Russia’s defense ministry also denied attacking Ukrainian cities – saying it is targeting military infrastructure, air defense and air forces with “high-precision weapons.” Explosions nonetheless ripped through Kyiv, the capital, Mariupol and Kharkiv.

Unconfirmed reports said that Russian forces had destroyed or rendered unusable the Ukrainian navy and taken control of Boryspil Airport in Kiev. Other reports spoke of a huge seaborne landing in Odessa involving large landing craft and helicopters shortly after dawn. Ukraine’s access to the Black Sea and Azov Sea was cut off.

Ukraine was on Wednesday placed on a war footing and a state of emergency declared; 200,000 military reservists called up; border areas restricted and citizens given right to arm themselves.

https://www.debka.com

The U.S. Government Just Admitted That This Is A War That Will Determine Who Will Rule The New World Order

– February 24, 2022

We now have a war that the vast majority of us never wanted.  All of our lives are going to be turned upside down, the global economy is going to be absolutely eviscerated, and countless numbers of people are going to die.  I am very angry with Vladimir Putin and the Russians for launching a full-blown invasion, because it didn’t need to happen.  And I am also very angry with the Biden administration because it would have been so easy to find a diplomatic solution to this crisis.  Unfortunately, the time for diplomacy is now over and World War III has begun.

On Thursday, State Department spokesman Ned Price made a stunning admission regarding what this war is really all about.

According to Price, Russia and China “also want a world order”, but he warned that if they win their world order “would be profoundly illiberal”…

China has given “tacit approval” for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s latest invasion of Ukraine, in the judgment of U.S. officials, as part of a joint effort to undermine the institutions that American and allied leaders established to minimize conflict in the decades following World War II.

“Russia and the PRC also want a world order,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said Wednesday. “But this is an order that is and would be profoundly illiberal. … It is an order that is, in many ways, destructive rather than additive.”

It would take an entire book to unpack everything that Price said there.

First of all, by stating that Russia and China “also want a world order”, he was tacitly admitting that the United States and other western nations desire to have a “world order” of their own.

And he implied that what we are witnessing is a battle over who will ultimately run the “world order”.

http://endoftheamericandream.com

Russia to Stage Massive Nuclear Drills Amid Ukraine Standoff

Newsmax – February 18, 2022

The Russian military on Friday announced massive drills of its strategic forces, a stark reminder of the country’s nuclear might amid Western fears that Moscow might be preparing to invade Ukraine.

The Defense Ministry said Russian President Vladimir Putin will personally oversee Saturday’s exercise, which will involve multiple practice launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.

The ministry said it planned the maneuvers some time ago to check the readiness of Russia’s military command and personnel, as well as the reliability of its nuclear and conventional weapons.

The war games follow U.S. President Joe Biden’s warning on Thursday that Russia could invade Ukraine within days.

Western fears focus on an estimated 150,000 Russian troops — including about 60% of Russia’s overall ground forces — concentrated near Ukraine’s borders. The Kremlin insists it has no plans to invade.

But Moscow has demanded that the U.S. and its allies keep Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations out of NATO, not deploy weapons in Ukraine and pull back NATO forces from Eastern Europe.

Washington and its allies bluntly rejected the Russian demands, and Moscow threatened to take unspecified “military-technical measures” if the West continued to stonewall.

Russia holds massive drills of its strategic nuclear forces on an annual basis, but the maneuvers planned for Saturday pointedly involve the Black Sea Fleet. The fleet is based on the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

https://www.newsmax.com

Russian ships, tanks and troops on the move to Ukraine as peace talks stall

– January 23, 2022

Russia has sent troops more than 4,000 miles to Ukraine’s borders and announced sweeping naval drills as Moscow expands its preparations for a potential attack on Ukraine as negotiations appear at a deadlock.

Six Russian landing ships capable of carrying main battle tanks, troops and other military vehicles travelled through the Channel en route to the Mediterranean last week in a deployment that could bolster an amphibious landing on Ukraine’s southern coast if Vladimir Putin orders an attack. Ukraine’s military intelligence has claimed that Russia is hiring mercenaries and supplying its proxy forces in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions with fuel, tanks and self-propelled artillery in preparation for a potential upsurge in fighting.

And a large military force, including Iskander short-range ballistic missiles, elite spetsnaz troops and anti-aircraft batteries, has arrived in Belarus from Russia’s eastern military district, an extraordinary deployment that western officials and analysts say could enable Moscow to threaten Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.

The new deployments have worried US officials. “What concerns us is the total picture,” said a senior state department official in a briefing last week. “It is the amassing of 100,000 troops along Ukraine’s borders combined with moving forces into Belarus over the weekend … these numbers are beyond, of course, what we would expect with regard to a normal exercise.”

The new forces in Belarus, the official added, represent an “increased capability for Russia to launch this attack, increased opportunity, increased avenues, increased routes”.

The US president, Joe Biden, last week said that Putin himself may not know what he plans to do. But the results are either reckless brinkmanship or preparations for a large-scale military operation.

https://www.theguardian.com

New Russian hypersonic missile set for delivery

Jonny Tickle – January 21, 2021

Trials of the state-of-the-art Zircon sea-launched hypersonic cruise missile are currently being completed, and the projectiles will be deployed to the Russian Navy later this year, a deputy defense minister revealed on Thursday.

The Zircon has made significant headlines worldwide for its capabilities, and last year it was named by US Navy Admiral Charles A. Richard as a threat to America.

“Because of these challenges, our current terrestrial- and space-based sensor architecture may not be sufficient to detect and track these hypersonic missiles,” he said.

With testing now nearing an end, the high-speed guided projectile is due to be deployed in the near future.

“State tests of the Zircon sea-based hypersonic cruise missile are being completed. Its serial deliveries will start in 2022,” Aleksey Krivoruchko told his superior, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu.

The Zircon missile has been undergoing testing for seven years and in recent times has been fired from both frigates and submarines, with most testing being undertaken in the White Sea, in Russia’s far north.

Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the tests were proceeding well.

“Now, it is especially important to develop and implement the technologies necessary to create new hypersonic weapons systems, high-powered lasers, and robotic systems that will be able to effectively counter potential military threats, which means they will further strengthen the security of our country,” he said.

https://www.rt.com

WAR DRUMS: Putin makes chilling warning that everyone will be turned to radioactive ash’ over Ukraine moves

ETH – December 23, 2021

Vladimir Putin primed Russia for war against Ukraine today, with his media mouthpiece warning NATO to back off or “everyone will be turned to ash”.

According to a report from Mirror, The Russian President told military chiefs and defense ministers Moscow will take “military measures” in response to tension with the West – as his troops amass close to Ukraine. Putin was referring to a Western bid to bolster Ukraine with weapons and military training.

He said: “In the event that the clearly aggressive line of our Western colleagues continues, we will take adequate retaliatory military-technical measures, and react toughly to unfriendly steps. “And, I want to emphasize, we have every right to do so, we have every right to take actions designed to ensure the security and sovereignty of Russia.”

Express stated that the Russian President, speaking during a meeting at the defense ministry on Tuesday, said Russia will “react toughly to unfriendly steps” and stressed, “that we have every right to do so.” On Monday, Dmitry Kiselyov, a Russian media mogul, threatened to “put a gun to America’s head” if NATO forces are stationed in Ukraine and warned the alliance to back off “otherwise, everyone will be turned into radioactive ash.”

America has been warning for weeks that Mr. Putin appears to be readying tens of thousands of troops, tanks, and artillery pieces to invade Ukraine, but Mr. Putin has insisted it is merely a defense force – until now.

https://endtimeheadlines.org