2024-01-30 17:43:42
Russia assured this Tuesday that it will reinforce its anti-aircraft shield in the face of continuous Ukrainian attacks against its rear and warned the United States against the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in the territory of the United Kingdom.
“The production volume has increased considerably. Regarding the missiles we need for air defense systems, we will have a more than double increase. We hope that within this year the program will be fully implemented.“said Sergei Shoigu, Russian Defense Minister, when visiting several arms factories in the Urals.
And the battle of the drones continued for another day. Russian anti-aircraft defense destroyed a total of 86 enemy aircraft in the last 24 hourswhile the Ukrainians denounced a Russian attack with 35 Iranian-made Shahed kamikaze drones.
Russian anti-aircraft umbrella
He Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported today that the authorities provisionally blocked the internet service in recent days in order to fine-tune the air defense systems in the northwest of the country.
The affected regions were Leningrad, Pskov and Novgorod, which have been scenes of enemy attacks despite being at a great distance from the Ukrainian front.
These blockades coincided with the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Saint Petersburg, the scene ten days ago of an attack against a river terminal of the Novatek gas company, and to the Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad.
On Tuesday, Shoigu visited the Novator company of the Almaz-Antey concern, which produces Kalibr and Iskander cruise missiles, and the Kalinin factory, responsible for the production of S-300B and Buk anti-aircraft missiles.
The Defense Minister pointed out that his portfolio works together with these companies in the modernization of their capabilities, which “must increase considerably“ the production.
– Nuclear tension with the USA
Furthermore, Russia warned today “in the clearest and harshest way possible” to the United States against the deployment “destabilizing” of tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of the United Kingdom, which the British press reported days ago.
“Neither the security of the United Kingdom nor the United States will be strengthened by this measure,” said Sergei Ryabkov, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister.
He denied that this plan has “some kind of intimidation effect” for Russia, but he did consider that this location, which he considered “totally possible”, would suppose “an increase in the overall level of escalation and threats in Europe.”
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recalled that the US “keeps nuclear weapons in five European countries and instructs the citizens of those countries in the use of tactical nuclear weapons.”
And he added that, since NATO classified Russia as “its biggest threat”, The Kremlin sees the allied nuclear troika – USA, United Kingdom and France – “as a single nuclear arsenal directed against the Russian Federation.”
Washington withdrew its nuclear arsenal from British soil in 2008, considering that the danger of the Cold War had already passed, although that same year the Russian army invaded Georgian territory.
Russia has also deployed tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, the main ally in the Russian military campaign in Ukraine, as a deterrent against advancing NATO.
Russia calls “absurd” accusations of attacks against Baltics and Scandinavians
Lavrov also criticized “absurd” accusations about a future Russian attack against the three Baltic republics, Finland and Sweden, all member countries or candidates to join NATO.
“The absurdity of such statements is evident to everyone, to anyone who has even a small understanding of history and understands the objectives that we openly announced, without hiding, in connection with the special military operation in Ukraine”he said during a roundtable with a group of ambassadors in Moscow.
Lavrov added: “We are eliminating historical injustice.”
“They say it openly: ‘If Russia wins and defends its interests in this war, then the next will be the Baltics, Sweden and Finland.’ “It wasn’t just anyone, but the president of the United States, Joe Biden, who said it.”he highlighted, as reported by RIA Nóvosti.
And he accused the United States and NATO of trying to rewrite history to transform the territories in which the Russians lived. “during centuries” on a platform “to create threats to the security of the Russian Federation.”
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