Putin approves withdrawal from Nuclear Test Treaty… and expects Western escalation
On Thursday, Russia completed the procedures for officially withdrawing from the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. President Vladimir Putin signed a law in this regard, which went through the preliminary stages of approval through ratification in the Duma (Representatives) and the Federation (Senate).
Therefore, the new law will come into force immediately, after being published on the government electronic platform, which specializes in publishing charters, treaties and agreements to which Russia is a party. The development frees Russia to resume its nuclear testing activities, after the treaty previously obliged it to inform Western partners about the suspension of tests.
Moscow based its position on the failure of Western parties to respect the treaty, knowing that Russia signed it in 1996 and that the Russian Parliament ratified it in 2000. The document should have become the main international legal instrument to stop any type of nuclear tests. But the treaty never came into force; It has not been ratified by 8 of the 44 countries that possess nuclear weapons or have the capacity to make them.
The memorandum signed by the Russian president states that the approved law aims to restore equality of obligations in the field of limiting nuclear weapons.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that the withdrawal of ratification of the treaty will level the playing field in the field of nuclear testing for Moscow and Washington, which have never ratified this document.
Furthermore, Putin has suggested a Western escalation in launching sabotage operations inside Russia. At a cabinet meeting on Wednesday evening, he said the West may once again resort to “sabotage and provocation operations against vital and sensitive installations in Russia, having exhausted its ability to impose further sanctions on Russia.”
Putin said: “It is important to calculate these risks in advance and respond proactively in order to ensure the safe and stable functioning of our institutions, companies and workforce, as well as the reliability of our foreign trade relations and logistics routes.”
Meanwhile, a new debate has opened between Russia and Ukraine regarding the prospects and developments of the war that has been ongoing for about 20 months.
Russia on Thursday denied the validity of statements by Ukrainian army commander Valery Zaloghny, who said the military conflict had “reached a dead end.” Peskov responded: “The situation on the ground has not reached any dead ends and Russia steadily continues to implement the special military operation.” All set objectives must be achieved.”
Zalogny had told the Economist newspaper: “The current situation on the fronts has become similar to that during the First World War.” He added: “We have reached a level that presents us with a dead end,” adding: “Most likely there will not be a major turning point for any party.”
Ukrainian forces launched a large-scale counterattack in the summer of this year, but achieved limited results on the ground.
In turn, Russian forces announced that they had managed to make very limited progress on the battle fronts.
Zalogny saw that the positions of the two sides had become “fixed”. He said: “The war is now moving to a new phase: what we in the Army call a positioning war for static combat and the transition to long-term attrition operations,” warning that “battlefronts could will soon become similar to the trenches of the First World War.”
The Ukrainian military commander believes that “only a technological leap can create a way out of the current situation,” referring to his country’s urgent need to obtain aircraft and other combat systems. He said the stalemate on the battlefield is only helping Russia rebuild its military strength.
He set two more conditions for strengthening Ukraine’s capabilities and freeing itself from the “current stalemate”; The first: to expand the operational range of improved Ukrainian drones, which will have to compensate for the lack of combat aircraft until Ukraine has lots of them. The second, from his perspective, is that “the key to success in drone warfare is to improve electronic warfare to disable and intercept Russian aircraft,” recognizing that “Russia is superior in this regard.” He added that Ukraine needs modern equipment for demining. Because the Russian army created mining belts up to 20 kilometers deep.
In a related context, the official Novosti news agency cited a senior Defense Ministry source as saying Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered military leaders during a meeting to “pay special attention to developing skills in using aircraft and drones”. The source said that Shoigu assigned commanders of military regions and military administration bodies “a number of tasks” in this regard.
He added that Minister Shoigu drew attention to the fact that it is necessary not only to prepare experts, but also to coordinate their training directly with designers of weapons and military equipment.
The source said that Shoigu, during his recent visit to one of the command centers of the front-line Russian group of forces “East”, inspected the marching units and was informed about the progress of the implementation of directives regarding their training and supply. with offensive and reconnaissance drones.