Escalation. President Putin now uses it as his catchphrase.
And it was more prevalent today.
The head of the Kremlin declared in his state of the nation address that “Russia suspends its participation in the New Start treaty.” His usual target was the West.
The last nuclear arms control agreement between Russia and the United States is called New Start. It restricts the two nations’ nuclear stockpiles.
There was however more.
The decree to “put new ground-based strategic complexes on combat standby duty” was signed, the Russian president announced.
He issued a warning that Russia was prepared to restart nuclear weapons testing.
Of course, President Putin continued, “We won’t do it first.” But we’ll conduct tests if the US does, too.
New Start had experienced issues. By refusing to permit inspections on its soil, Moscow was allegedly breaking the agreement, according to accusations made by Washington last month.
The stakes have increased as a result of Moscow’s suspension of its treaty participation.
According to Andrei Kolesnikov of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, “This is more about nuclear blackmail, but it is extremely dangerous because we cannot predict how Putin will behave in the future or what is on his mind.
It’s preferable to have a framework, he continued, “in order to prevent nuclear war.”
“We are witnessing the real threat of a nuclear war by losing this framework.”
A Kremlin leader who made the decision to invade Ukraine is also in front of us, and he shows no sign of regret or regret.
His “special military operation” has not gone at all as planned, causing suffering in Ukraine and significant military losses for Russia, forcing the president to enlist tens of thousands of Russians.
Was the invasion therefore a grave error? Big mistake in calculations? Putin won’t acknowledge any of those. He keeps promoting the fallacious idea that the West is to blame for the conflict.
He said, “I want to repeat. “The war was started by them (the West). And in order to stop it, we have used force and still do.”
“The elites of the West are open about wanting to strategically defeat Russia. Why does that matter? It intends to permanently put an end to us.
It indicates that they intend to escalate a regional conflict into a global conflict. We fully comprehend it in this manner. We will respond to it appropriately. This is because our nation’s very existence is at stake in this particular situation.”
Despite the West’s support for Ukraine, President Putin exuded confidence that Russia could withstand international sanctions and triumph. No sign of a compromise. No sign that he is trying to find an exit.
“He believes he has the resources to carry on the conflict and battle. It’s a warning, “Finally, Mr. Kolesnikov says. “He has shattered all ties to Western nations. He is not yet prepared to put an end to this catastrophe. He will go on.”
