Vladimir Putin

Russia reiterated this Tuesday the threat of using nuclear weapons, when the last day of the referendums is held to annex four territories under its total or partial control in Ukraine, votes that are considered a “farce” by kyiv and its allies. The former Russian president and who is now number two on the Russian Security Council, Dmitri Medvedev, assured that Moscow will defend these new territories that it intends to incorporate following the scrutiny with the use of “all Russian weapons, including strategic weapons.”

“I am going to repeat it once more for deaf ears (…) Russia has the right to use the atomic weaponif necessary,” he said.

MIRA: “What we are experiencing now in Russia is total fear”

When questioned regarding Medvedev’s statements, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov confirmed that they coincide with Russia’s “military doctrine”.

“The legal situation will radically change from the point of view of international law and that will also have consequences on security in these territories,” Peskov said.

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This nuclear threat of concern in the West coincides with the last day of the referendums in the pro-Russian separatist regions of Donetsk y Luhansk (east) and also in the regions of Kherson y Zaporiya (south), under Russian occupation.

These votes were organized in response to the kyiv counter-offensive, which with the support of Western weapons has recaptured thousands of square kilometers from the Russians since the beginning of September, and are reminiscent of the strategy used for the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

In total, these five regions account for a little more than 20% of the Ukrainian area.

This Tuesday, the Russian president, Vladimir Putinaffirmed that these referendums aim to “save the populations” that reside in these territories.

exodus of russians

The G7 countries have vowed “never to acknowledge” the results, with the United States even promising a “swift and severe” response through additional economic sanctions.

The EU stated that it considers the annexation referendums to be “illegal” and “illegitimate” and warned that those who collaborated in their organization will be subject to sanctions.

China, a key ally of Moscow, did not openly criticize the referendums but called for respecting “the territorial integrity of all countries.”

None of these criticisms or threats seem to impress Moscow, which organized these referendums at top speed last week, in a context of Ukrainian military advances, opening hundreds of polling stations in the four territories and in Russia, to make those displaced by the conflict.

The authorities indicate that on Tuesday night or on the following days there will be “provisional results”. Next, the Russian Parliament will have to vote on a text that will formalize the integration of the four regions in Russia.

At the diplomatic level, the French Foreign Minister, Catherine Colonna, traveled to kyiv on Tuesday to express her support for Ukraine and to meet with the president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

In this phase of the conflict, Russia announced a mobilization of reservists that seeks to recruit some 300,000 troops for its army, which has had an exodus to neighboring countries as a response.

This Tuesday, this trend was confirmed by Georgia and Kazakhstan, but a shift to countries such as Finland or Mongolia is also observed.

“I am not cannon fodder, I am not a murderer,” Nikita, a 23-year-old Russian who crossed the border with Georgia, told AFP.

The Russian Defense Ministry has indicated that it will not request the extradition of the thousands of men who fled to neighboring countries to escape conscription.

Leaks in North Stream

On the ground, Ukraine on Tuesday claimed territorial advances in the east and the governor of Kharkiv announced that Ukrainian forces had retaken the town of Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi “one of the logistics and railway hubs” in the region.

Moscow, for its part, claimed to have inflicted heavy losses on its adversary.

In recent days, Russian attacks with Iranian-made drones have multiplied, in particular in the coastal city of Odessa, a large Black Sea port, where two devices hit military infrastructure on Monday and caused a major fire and ammunition explosions, according to the Ukrainian military command.

Meanwhile, the two out-of-service Nord Stream pipelines carrying Russian gas to Europe have reported unexplained leaks, Sweden and Denmark said.

Russia, for its part, expressed that it is “extremely concerned” regarding these failures and added that it does not rule out “any” hypothesis, including sabotage.