Putin Orders Nuclear Forces to Heighten Alert Status

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Putin discussing 'Strategy toward the U.S.'
Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy New York=Special Correspondent Joselgina] Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, who continues the invasion of Ukraine, on the 27th (local time) ordered to strengthen the alert status including nuclear weapons.

According to CNN and others, President Putin stated this during a televised meeting with Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, saying, "Western countries are taking unfriendly actions in the economic sector, and even high-ranking officials of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are making aggressive remarks against our country."

He said, "I order the Defense Minister and the Chief of the General Staff to issue a combat alert to the Russian military," and directed the unit responsible for nuclear deterrence to enter 'special combat duty measures.' This unit is the Strategic Rocket Forces of Russia, which operates intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and oversees nuclear weapons.

This is interpreted as a response to the West, including the United States, excluding Russian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) payment network and placing President Putin directly on the sanctions list. If excluded from SWIFT, which is used by more than 11,000 major banks and financial institutions worldwide, it effectively expels Russia from the international financial network.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.