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Putin orders partial Russian mobilisation, warns West over nuclear blackmail

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered Russia’s first mobilisation since World War Two and warned that Moscow would defend itself with the might of all its vast arsenal if faced with a nuclear threat from the West.

The blunt warning from Russia’s paramount leader, whose country has more nuclear warheads than even the United States, marks the biggest escalation of the war since Moscow’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine and was accompanied by a decision to call up 300,000 extra reservists.

“If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will without doubt use all available means to protect Russia and our people – this is not a bluff,” Putin said in a televised address to the nation.

He made the comments after accusing the West of “nuclear blackmail”, saying that top government officials in several unnamed “leading” Nato countries had spoken of potentially using nuclear weapons against Russia.

He also accused the West of risking “nuclear catastrophe,” by allowing Ukraine to shell the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant which is under Russian control, something Kyiv has denied.

Giving his explicit support to referendums that will be held in coming days in swathes of Ukraine controlled by Russian troops — the first step to formal annexation of a chunk of Ukraine the size of Hungary — Putin said the West had been plotting to destroy Russia.

“In its aggressive anti-Russian policy, the West has crossed every line,” Putin said.

“Those who are trying to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the wind can change in their direction.”

The war, which has triggered the worst confrontation with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, has killed tens of thousands and sent an inflationary wave crashing through the global economy.

Russia’s nuclear doctrine allows the use of such weapons if weapons of mass destruction are used against it or if or if the Russian state faces an existential threat from conventional weapons.

Putin said he had also signed a decree on a partial mobilisation.

The mobilisation, which affects anyone who has served as a professional soldier in Russia rather than a conscript, begins immediately.

Full story here:- https://cyprus-mail.com/2022/09/21/putin-orders-partial-russian-mobilisation-warns-west-over-nuclear-blackmail/

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Dave
Moira And Dave

“I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”