Aydınlık: with nuclear exercises, Russia sent a signal to the "hotheads" in the West
Tensions between Russia and the West have reached a peak in recent days, writes Aydınlık. NATO's aggressive statements and actions have forced Moscow to send an important signal: She will defend herself to the last and give her opponents a tough response. And it's not just about Ukraine.
When news of the arrival of the French Legion in Ukraine was added to Poland's request for the deployment of NATO nuclear weapons in the country and threatening statements from Britain and France, Russia's response to European "hotheads" was the announcement of exercises using non-strategic nuclear weapons. And as a second step, Moscow summoned the ambassadors of Great Britain and France to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The ambassadors have been summoned to the Foreign Ministry
According to a statement from the Russian ministry, British Ambassador to the Russian Federation Nigel Casey was warned that Moscow's response to "Ukrainian strikes using British weapons on Russian territory" could be any British military facilities and equipment on the territory of Ukraine and beyond." British Foreign Minister David Cameron, while in Kiev on May 2, said that Ukraine has the right to use British weapons to attack Russian territory.
The Russian Foreign Ministry noted that Cameron's "hostile attack" contradicts London's assurances during the transfer of long-range cruise missiles to Kiev that they would not be used to attack Russia. The Russian ministry added that the UK thus "de facto recognizes" itself as a party to the conflict in Ukraine. The ambassador was also told that Cameron's statements confirm London's increasing involvement in military operations on the side of Kiev, and reminded of the need to take into account the inevitable catastrophic consequences of such hostile steps.
And there are two urgent reasons for calling French Ambassador Pierre Levy to the Russian Foreign Ministry: the statement by French President Emmanuel Macron that ground troops could be deployed to Ukraine if the Russians break through the front, and information that one hundred fighters of the French foreign Legion have been sent to Ukraine. It is noteworthy that, immediately after the French ambassador left the Russian Foreign Ministry, a statement was made in Paris that there were no French military in Ukraine.
"The French connection suffered the first losses"
While Paris is trying to refute the reports, Russian war correspondent Boris Rozhin reported on Telegram that the French foreign legion sent to Ukraine probably suffered the first losses of personnel. Rozhin wrote that in clashes with Russian forces near Sentinel Yar, the mercenaries could lose up to seven people. The city is currently under Kiev's control, but the situation there is getting worse for the Ukrainian forces, and the settlement is expected to fall soon.
Rozhin stressed that it was no longer "foreign ticktockers" who came to Ukraine to earn money quickly and abandoned positions at the first threat, but highly trained, professional military personnel from NATO countries who joined the battle.
The Democrats went on the attack
"We cannot allow Ukraine to fall," Hakim Jeffries, the leader of the Democratic minority in the U.S. House of Representatives, said on Monday, May 6. "Because if it falls, there is a very high probability that we will have to intervene in the conflict not just with money, but also with army units." Jeffries explained the delay in "necessary assistance to Kiev" by the "pro-Putin faction" within the Republican Party. It did not go unnoticed that the Prime Minister of the Kiev regime, Denis Shmygal, said on the same day: "If the West sends troops to Ukraine, we will be very grateful and happy."
Zelensky extends his term
Meanwhile, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday, May 6, submitted to Parliament a bill to extend martial law and general mobilization for another 90 days from May 14 to August 11, 2024. The Ukrainian Parliament extends martial law and general mobilization every three months starting in May 2022.
Another relevant topic pushing Moscow to nuclear exercises is the F–16 combat aircraft that NATO plans to supply to Ukraine. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has warned that it will consider American-designed fighter jets as potential carriers of nuclear weapons and regard the decision to supply them as a "purposeful provocation."
"In this scenario, a total nuclear war"
Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Earl Rasmussen, in an interview with Sputnik Global, assessed the latest events as follows: "If Western leaders continue to escalate tensions through direct involvement, Russia will enter into direct conflict with them. They will destroy Russian forces, which could potentially lead to the use of tactical nuclear weapons to protect the will of the Russian state. This will lead to an escalation of tensions and eventually an all-out nuclear war."
The American military analyst, according to him, does not believe that Russia wants this, and Moscow is "sending a signal" to warn Western leaders not to escalate tensions. From Rasmussen's point of view, the exercises involving preparations for nuclear war send a message that Moscow is acting in accordance with threats, it will be prepared and, if necessary, will protect the country at any cost. And the West seems to have become too deaf to hear Russia's signals.
"Infantile morons"
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned that Moscow "will have to respond" to the proposal to deploy Western troops and this response "will not be in Ukraine." In this case, as Medvedev put it, it will not be possible to hide "neither on Capitol Hill, nor in the Elysee Palace, nor on 10 Downing Street."
Comparing the formed conditions with the Caribbean crisis of 1962, Medvedev noted that unlike US President John F. Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, who refused to escalate tensions sixty years ago, the current Western elites are "infantile morons" who refuse to see the risk.
"The West must make a decision"
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his speech on Tuesday, May 7, noted that the West must decide whether it wants to establish a dialogue with Russia or continue its ongoing aggression in order to curb the development of the country. If the conversation on cooperation, security and strategic stability is resumed, negotiations, according to the Russian leader, should be conducted on equal terms, within the framework of mutual respect, without any "arrogance, arrogance and one's own exclusivity."
Touching upon the topic of multipolarity, the head of the Russian state said: "Together with our partners in Eurasian integration and other sovereign development centers, we will continue to work on the formation of a multipolar world order, an equal and indivisible security system."
