On war anniversary eve, Putin talks of boosting nukes

Grant McCool and Michael Perry | February 23, 2023

President Vladimir Putin says Russia will maintain increased attention on boosting its nuclear forces in an address to mark this week’s Defender of the Fatherland public holiday and a day before the first anniversary of his invasion of Ukraine.

Putin’s comments on Thursday follow his suspension of a bilateral nuclear arms control treaty with the United States.

“As before, we will pay increased attention to strengthening the nuclear triad,” said Putin, referring to nuclear missiles based on land, sea and in the air.

Putin said that for the first time, Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles – a weapon able to carry multiple nuclear warheads – would be deployed this year.

“We will continue mass production of air-based hypersonic Kinzhal systems and will start mass supplies of sea-based Zircon hypersonic missiles,” Putin said in the remarks issued by the Kremlin.

Russia is due to begin military exercises with China in South Africa on Friday and has sent a frigate equipped with the hypersonic missiles.

On the eve of the February 24 anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, Putin and US President Joe Biden had engaged in verbal sparring, highlighting the global tensions between the superpowers.

Putin on Tuesday suspended the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) with the United States, accusing it of turning the war into a global conflict by arming Ukraine.

In a surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday, Biden said the US and its NATO allies were defending democracy and freedom in Ukraine.

In Warsaw on Wednesday, Biden warned the suspension of START was a “big mistake” but said, “I don’t read into that that he’s thinking of using nuclear weapons or anything like that”.

A senior Russian defence official said Moscow would stick to agreed limits on nuclear missiles and keep informing the US about changes in its deployments.

After meeting leaders of NATO’s eastern flank in Warsaw, Biden promised the US “will defend literally every inch of NATO”, the military alliance that includes some Eastern European countries bordering Russia.

The Kremlin says it regards NATO, which could soon expand to include Sweden and Finland, as an existential threat to Russia.

The Ukraine war, the biggest land conflict in Europe since World War II, has displaced millions of people, left Ukrainian cities, towns and villages in ruins and disrupted the global economy.

On Wednesday, Putin welcomed China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, to the Kremlin, and announced that Chinese leader Xi Jinping would visit Russia, saying relations had reached “new frontiers”.

Xi is expected to make a “peace speech” on Friday, but Ukraine says there can be no talk of peace while Russian troops occupy its territory.

Washington is concerned Beijing could provide material support for Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

The TASS news agency quoted Wang as saying China would “firmly adhere to an objective and impartial position and play a constructive role in the political settlement of the crisis”.

The relationship between China and Russia, Wang said through an interpreter, was not directed against any third party but in a clear jab at the United States he said the countries would “not succumb to pressure from third parties”.

Russia controls nearly one fifth of Ukraine, after suffering three major battlefield setbacks last year in its “special military operation” to protect Russian security.

Ukraine and its Western allies have described the invasion as an imperial-style land grab.

In recent weeks, Russia launched an offensive in eastern Ukraine, but has made only marginal gains despite some heavy losses.

Ukrainian forces repelled 90 Russian attacks in the northeast and east over the past 24 hours, the military said early on Thursday.