RT
President Vladimir Putin placed the country’s strategic deterrence forces on “special”alert on Sunday, announcing the move during a meeting with Russia’s Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov.
“Western countries are not only taking unfriendly actions against our country in the economic area. I'm speaking about the illegitimate sanctions that everyone is well aware of. However, the top officials of the leading NATO countries also make aggressive statements against our country as well,” Putin stated.
Russia’s deterrent forces include various strategic weapons, both nuclear and conventional, that can be used for defense and offense alike. According to Russia’s military definition, the forces are designed to “to deter aggression against Russia and its allies, as well as to defeat the aggressor, including in a war with the use of nuclear weapons.”
The move comes amid the ongoing offensive by Russia in neighboring Ukraine, launched by Moscow on February 24. The military operation followed Russia’s formal recogniton of the breakaway Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, which split from Kiev back in 2014.
"Top officials of leading NATO nations indulge in making aggressive statements about our country. Therefore, I am ordering the minister of defence and the chief of the general staff to put the deterrence forces of the Russian army into special combat duty mode," Putin said in a briefing with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov in Moscow.
Putin's order follows
remarks by UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss earlier in the day warning that if Russia's military operation in Ukraine was not "stopped," it could lead to a conflict with NATO.
"This long-running conflict is about freedom and democracy in Europe. Because if we don't stop Putin in Ukraine, we are going to see others under threat: the Baltics, Poland, Moldova. And it could end up in a conflict with NATO," Truss said.
"The removal of Russian banks from SWIFT means that while transactions can continue to take place the means of communicating have been rendered slower," says Suranjali Tandon, assistant professor at a Delhi-based National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. "In order to predict the impact, it is important to assess the number of banks that currently use SWIFT and the size of transactions undertaken through these."
The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) is a Belgium-based independent organisation that serves as an internal messaging system between over 11,000 banks and financial institutions in over 200 countries. Several major Russian banks, including Sberbank and VTB, could be disconnected from the system in the coming days. The Western leaders have also committed "to imposing restrictive measures that will prevent the Russian Central Bank from deploying its international reserves in ways that undermine the impact of our sanctions."
Russia’s Vnesheconombank (VEB) stated that having been disconnected from SWIFT, the nation will switch to the financial messaging system (SPFS) of the Russian Central Bank and alternative channels.
According to the Central Bank of Russia's website, at least 331 banks, both domestic and foreign, are listed as the SPFS system users.
"Russia's withdrawal from SWIFT does not pose a threat to our internal settlements, stimulates the spread of the ruble as an international currency and at the same time reduces the possibility of destructive control by the West of our settlement operations," Andrey Klimov, head of the Federation Council Commission for the Protection of State Sovereignty, told the press on 27 February.
Defcon Level Update
February 26, 2022 - French President Emmanuel Macron has asked Lukashenko, the President of Belarus to demand that Russian troops leave the country, claiming that Russia has been given the green light to deploy nuclear weapons in the country. Belarus borders Ukraine, giving Russia a strategic reason to deploy nuclear warheads in the country if they so choose to do so. Read more
February 26, 2022 - China has reportedly announced 'military exercises' in the South China Sea across a six nautical mile radius from Sunday to Tuesday. Read more
February 26, 2022 - Russian forces have reportedly fired at a radioactive waste disposal site in Kyiv, Ukraine according to The Kyiv Independent. Read more
February 26, 2022 - YouTube has blocked Russian state news RT, as well as other Russian channels from receiving money from advertisements. This includes videos that run videos from these state run news and media channels. Read more
February 26, 2022 - Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba has responded to apparent propaganda that Ukraine has plans to launch a 'dirty bomb' into Russian territory. Read more
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