The Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces watched the annual exercise of a “nuclear strike” launching ballistic and cruise missiles, then insisted on the story that Ukraine was preparing to detonate a “dirty bomb” on its own territory. to bring. . “There are plans to use the so-called dirty bomb as a provocation,” Vladimir Putin said during a meeting with the intelligence chiefs of the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), as Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu continued his telephone conversation. calls colleagues, this time from China and India, to warn of the “dirty bomb”.
During the exercises, Shoigu told Putin that his forces had carried out “a massive nuclear strike in response to an enemy nuclear attack”. Missiles were launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome, 800 kilometers north of Moscow, and from a nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea that targeted Kura, a location in the far east of the country that receives the missile tests. “Planned tasks for the preparation of strategic deterrent forces have been fully completed. All missiles have hit their targets,” the Kremlin said.
Until Sunday, NATO will also conduct its annual nuclear deterrent exercises, with the participation of aircraft from 14 allied countries, based on Belgium.
Putin took advantage of the meeting with CIS officials to criticize the United States for supporting Ukraine with the supply of heavy weapons. “They are ignoring the Kiev regime’s statements about its desire to obtain nuclear weapons. The authorities have spoken about it publicly, they have not kept silent and there are plans to use the so-called ‘dirty bomb’ as a provocation,” he said. he. , without proof.
Zelensky argued that the international community should launch a preemptive strike on Russia if an imminent nuclear attack on Ukraine is proven. It also echoed the unfounded claim that Ukraine had been turned by the US into a “testing ground for military biological experiments”.
Nuclear rhetoric escalated in September after Putin announced the annexation of four Ukrainian regions.
Putin’s Wrapped Messenger
The president of Guinea-Bissau and also of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) became the second African leader to visit Russia since the invasion of Ukraine, after his Senegalese ally Macky Sall, acting president of the African Union. to travel to Kiev first. Umaro Sissoco Embaló met with Vladimir Putin for two hours and took a “message of peace” from him to pass on to Volodymyr Zelensky, whom he met the next day.
“We have talked a lot about the situation between Russia and Ukraine and how we can contribute to peace between brotherly peoples. I have noticed that President Putin is very open to negotiations with President Zelensky,” the Guinean said in remarks to journalists during the trip to Moscow. . and Kiev, according to RFI.
After meeting the Ukrainian president, Embaló defended Africa’s role as a “bridge to reunification” between the “two brothers” during the press conference. However, the Ukrainian presidency preferred to emphasize the historic nature of the visit and the possibility of forging more diversified ties with Africa, including the establishment of a grain corridor with ECOWAS and the organization of an Africa-Ukraine summit (as in then Russia does) ).
Both stressed the importance of the renewal of the Istanbul Agreement for grain exports across the Black Sea. Zelensky said 170 ships bound for Africa and Asia are currently blocked.
With many voices calling for negotiations in recent days, NATO’s secretary general recalled that “most wars end at the negotiating table” and as such, the allies must support Ukraine with military aid so that this moment can come. “We know that what Ukraine can achieve at the negotiating table depends entirely on its strength on the battlefield,” said Jens Stoltenberg.
Source: DN
