The Russian president ordered the nation's nuclear deterrence forces to be placed on high alert Sunday following "aggressive statements" from NATO related to the Russian military operation in Ukraine. Earlier, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss warned that if Russia wasn't "stopped" "in Ukraine," the crisis could escalate into a conflict with NATO,
Sputnik International reports.
Russia's ground, air and submarine-based nuclear deterrent forces have begun standby alert duty with reinforced personnel, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has informed President Putin.
"The Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation, Army General Sergei Shoigu, has reported to Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin that, in accordance with his order, the duty shifts of the command posts of the Strategic Missile Troops, the Northern and Pacific Fleets, and Long-Range Aviation Command have begun to carry out combat duty with reinforced personnel," the MoD told reporters in a statement Monday.
Putin asked Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov to put the Russian armed forces' strategic deterrent on "special combat duty mode" on Sunday. The president ordered the heightened alert status to be implemented after alleging that "top officials of leading NATO nations" had indulged "in making aggressive statements about our country," on top of and separately from the sanctions slapped on Moscow by Washington and its allies.
Putin did not specify who these "top officials were" or which specific "aggressive" remarks he was referring to, but just hours prior to his comments, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss declared in an interview with Sky News that unless Russia's ongoing military operation in Ukraine to demilitarize the country was "stopped," the crisis could "end up in a conflict with NATO".
