Seven months after the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, Vladimir Putin launches a partial mobilization and threatens to use nuclear weapons “if the vital interests of Russia were threatened”.
While the UN General Assembly is held since Tuesday in New York, events are accelerating in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. For the past ten days, Ukrainian troops have managed to take some ground from the Russian army, which has had to redeploy on the front line. We have been waiting for a response from Moscow. It is the master of the Kremlin who has defined the contours.
The nuclear weapon
On Wednesday, September 21, Vladimir Putin announced in a brief speech, “the partial mobilization” of Russians of fighting age. This represents about 300,000 men who will receive rapid training.
Vladimir Putin said that “the Nazi regime in Kiev”, supported financially and militarily by the West, represented a threat to Russia. He added: “If the territorial integrity of our country [was] threatened, we would certainly use all means at our disposal to protect Russia and our people…. Those who blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that this blackmail can be turned against them.
Referendums
This escalation comes at a time when a referendum will be held in four Ukrainian provinces on September 23 and 27, 2022: the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporijjia and Kherson. Seen from Moscow, these provinces populated by pro-Russians seem torn between the Russian Federation and Ukraine. For Putin, ‘they have the right to self-determination’.