Russia’s plans to conduct drills involving the use of tactical nuclear weapons are another evidence of the Kremlin’s irresponsible behavior and its desire for further escalation, said EU spokesman Peter Stano, according to Ukrinform.
“We urge Russia to halt this escalation, irresponsible rhetoric, and behavior, to stop aggression against Ukraine, which is a gross violation of international law and Russia’s own international commitments,” Stano said.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced on May 6th that the exercises were likely to be conducted “in the near future” at Putin’s instruction. “The exercises are aimed at supporting the readiness of personnel and equipment of units of non-strategic nuclear weapons to respond and to unconditionally ensure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Russian state in response to provocative statements and threats from certain Western officials directed at the Russian Federation,” the statement said.
Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, confirmed that the exercises were provoked by recent statements by French President Emmanuel Macron and British Foreign Minister David Cameron, as well as some “Americans.” Presumably, this refers to London allowing the Ukrainian Armed Forces to use its weapons to strike targets in Russian territory.
If Russia wants to protect its troops from being hit by weapons manufactured in the West, it should simply withdraw them from Ukraine, the White House said, adding that they do not see any real steps from Russia regarding the use of nuclear weapons.
“If Putin and Russian officials are concerned that their troops in Ukraine may be hit by weapons manufactured in other countries, the easiest way to avoid this is to simply withdraw their troops. For the leader of a major nuclear power, it is simply reckless and irresponsible to brandish nuclear arsenals and hint at their potential use. Obviously, we are watching this closely now and have been very carefully monitoring it before,” said John Kirby, White House National Security Council Coordinator, as reported by Voice of America.
It is noteworthy that Ukraine has already used weapons of Western production in Crimea, but Russia has not made any statements on this matter to date. With this, Russia inadvertently acknowledged that Crimea is Ukraine, as are other occupied territories.
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