Putin orders nuclear workouts with tactical weapons and threatens Britain | EUROtoday

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High rigidity between Russia and Europe, with London within the crosshairs of the Kremlin's newest threats. The Russian Defense Ministry has mentioned it needs to prepare workouts that simulate the usage of nuclear weapons on the battlefield. Monday's announcement got here days after the Kremlin reacted angrily to feedback by senior Western officers concerning the struggle in Ukraine. The ministry says the workouts are a response to “provocative statements and threats by some Western officials towards the Russian Federation.”

It is the primary time Russia has publicly introduced tactical nuclear weapons workouts, despite the fact that its strategic nuclear forces train often. Tactical nuclear weapons have a decrease yield than the large warheads that arm intercontinental ballistic missiles meant to destroy whole cities.

Kiev: common blackmail from Moscow

Ukraine downplays Russia's tactical nuclear drills. This is “the usual blackmail”, mentioned the spokesman for the Intelligence Directorate of the Defense Ministry, Andrei Yusov. «So far now we have not noticed something new, other than the response to those statements. We are gathering all the required data and each the Ukrainian particular companies and people of the complete free world are engaged on this,” Yusov defined on state tv. «Nuclear blackmail is a typical apply. Once once more, this isn’t vital information,” he concluded.

Moscow ready to strike British targets

Russia also summoned British Ambassador Nigel Casey to the Foreign Office for a formal protest after Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Ukraine had the right to use British weapons to strike Russia. The Russian Foreign Ministry said Cameron's statements recognized that Britain is now de-facto party to the conflict. He warned that British military facilities could be targeted both inside and outside Ukraine in response to attacks on Russian territory.

Diplomatic tensions

Meanwhile, the German ambassador to Russia has been recalled to Berlin for consultations for every week. This is the response to the invention of the Russian cyberattacks on the SPD disclosed final week by the German authorities. This was introduced by the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Russian Foreign Ministry additionally summoned the French ambassador Pierre Levy.