The Associated Press reports:
In a dramatic escalation of East-West tensions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian nuclear forces put on high alert Sunday in response to what he called “aggressive statements” by leading NATO powers.
The order means Putin wants Russia’s nuclear weapons prepared for increased readiness to launch and raises the threat that Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and the West’s response to it could boil over into nuclear warfare.
Putin, in giving the nuclear alert directive, cited not only the alleged statements by NATO members but the hard-hitting financial sanctions imposed by the West against Russia, including the Russian leader himself.
Specifically, according to Fox News Digital, Putin ordered his nuclear forces to a heightened “special regime of combat duty.”
“He is right now threatening a nuclear escalation,” former DIA intelligence officer Rebekah Koffler told the outlet. “This a veiled threat – or maybe such a veiled threat – he just met with his chief of general staff and minister of defense. He is escalating the conflict into the nuclear domain in order to de-escalate – that is topple Kyiv’s regime quickly.”
The threat comes amid reports that both sides are preparing for a diplomatic meeting at the border of Belarus on Monday, though the details are still sketchy as of this writing....<<<Read More>>>...