Russian President Vladimir Putin and former President Dmitry Medvedev both commented last week about the ‘firing power’ capabilities of their country and vowed to intensify the development of the ‘most powerful weapons’, Le Monde reports.
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Changing the nuclear doctrine
On Friday, Putin said he could soon initiate an amendment to the policy for the use of nuclear weapons which at present states that Russia can only use nukes if under attack from its enemies.
Putin pointed out the policy employed by the US which is based on relying on nuclear weapons also for apre-emptive strike, meaning it can launch nukes on an enemy if they are merely threatening an attack.
According to Le Monde, Putin also bragged about Russia's weaponry technologies which he said are more sophisticated than those of the US:
Russia's cruise missiles and hypersonic systems were more modern and even more efficient than those in the United States.
Intensifying development of advanced weaponry
Over the weekend, in a Telegram post, Dmitry Medvedev, the ex-President and current deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, said the state will be intensifying the development and production of new-generation weapons to protect itself, Moscow Times reports.
We are increasing production of the most powerful means of destruction. Including those based on new principles.
Medvedev, who served as President back when Putin served as Russia’s Prime Minister, has repeatedly expressed bombastic comments ever since the invasion of Ukraine began in February of this year.
This time, he says Russia’s enemy is not only in Ukraine, which he refers to with the name of territories used during the time of the Russian empire, but also elsewhere in the world:
Our enemy dug in not only in the Kyiv province of our native Malorossiya, It is in Europe, North America, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and a whole number of other places that pledged allegiance to the Nazi.
The comments of the Russian leaders come 10 months into the bloody war in Ukraine, which the West has repeatedly described as Russia’s ‘unprovoked’ invasion of its neighbour.
On Saturday, Ukrainian President Zelensky said Russian attacks targeting vital energy infrastructure have left at least 1.5 million people without electricityat the onset of winter, Newsweek reports.
Sources used:
-LeMonde: ‘Russia intensifying production of 'most powerful' weapons: Medvedev’
-MoscowTimes: ‘Russia Ramping Up Production of 'Most Powerful' Weapons: Medvedev’
-Newsweek: ‘Drone Strikes in Odesa to Leave 1.5 Million Without Power As Winter Begins’
