An ally of President Vladimir Putin issued a stark new nuclear warning to Ukraine and the West on Tuesday as Russia began releasing the results of referendums it proposes as a prelude to the annexation of four Ukrainian regions.
Moscow’s latest blow came as European countries rushed to investigate unexplained, large leaks in two Russian natural gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea that posed risks of explosions and the sinking of ships entering the area.
The Kremlin, which has blamed technical difficulties for previous cuts in Russian gas supplies to Europe, said it could not rule out sabotage without saying who was to blame.
Moscow’s confrontation with the West has fueled global inflation and exacerbated energy and food crises in many countries since the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, triggering tough Western sanctions and Russian retaliation.
Tuesday’s nuclear warning by Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, is one of many issued by Putin and his associates in recent weeks.
Analysts say they are designed to deter Ukraine and the West by hinting at a willingness to use tactical nuclear weapons to defend newly annexed territory, where Russian forces have faced strong Ukrainian counteroffensive in recent weeks.
Medvedev’s warning differed from previous warnings in that he first predicted that NATO’s military alliance would not risk a nuclear war and would go straight into the Ukraine war, even if Moscow struck Ukraine with nuclear weapons.
“I believe that even in this scenario, NATO would not directly intervene in the conflict,” Medvedev said in a Telegram message.
“The demagogues across the ocean and in Europe will not die in a nuclear apocalypse.”
‘Sham’ referendums
The first partial results of votes cast in Russia on whether to include the four Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine in Russia showed an overwhelming majority, Russia’s state news agency RIA reported.
It was a long-awaited announcement after a five-day referendum that has denounced Kiev and the West as a sham and say they will not recognize it. Ukraine urged the EU to impose new punitive sanctions in response to votes that were in many cases held at gunpoint.
Putin said on state television that the votes were intended to protect people from what he has called Ukraine’s persecution of ethnic Russians and Russian-speakers, something Kiev denies.
“Saving people in all areas where this referendum is being held is our top priority and has the attention of our entire society and our country,” Putin said.
He previously discussed with officials the mobilization of peasants to fight in Ukraine, the latest step in a campaign he announced last week in support of what Moscow calls its “special military operation” after this month’s battlefield turned around.
The mobilization has rushed thousands of Russians to cross Russia’s borders into neighboring countries.
Nearly 66,000 Russians entered the European Union, mainly through Finland and Estonia, between Sept. 19 and 25, a 30% increase from the previous week, said Frontex, the bloc’s border agency.
Russian government officials have repeatedly warned that they could use nuclear weapons if Kiev’s forces, who try to take some of the areas Moscow claims, what Russia will soon consider to be sovereign territory.
The United States has said it has privately explained to Moscow what it describes as “catastrophic consequences” for Russia if it resorted to nuclear weapons.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday he spoke with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg about further military support from the Western military alliance.
Earlier, Zelenskiy’s adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Ukraine was preparing for the possibility of a Russian nuclear attack, but it was the responsibility of nuclear-armed states to deter it.
“…Where exactly should we evacuate people in the event of a Russian nuclear attack on Ukraine?” he asked in an interview with the Swiss newspaper Blick. “Therefore, the use of nuclear weapons is a matter of global security.”
‘Nothing more to fear’
In central Kiev, music teacher Andrii Liubomyr said he was unimpressed by the possibility of a nuclear attack.
“So what? What should we fear after February 24? There is nothing left to fear,” he told Reuters, referring to the beginning of the Russian invasion.
Viktor Yermolenko, 58, also shook off Medvedev’s threat: “Our Ukrainian nation cannot be broken by a nuclear attack.” Podolyak said Ukrainians who helped Russia organize the annexation referendum would face charges of treason and at least five years in prison.
“We have lists of names of people who have been involved in one way or another,” he said, adding that Ukrainians who had to vote would not be punished. Ukrainian officials have reported door-to-door ballot boxes and residents are being forced to vote in front of Russian troops.
None of the provinces are fully under Moscow’s control and fighting is ongoing along the entire frontline, with Ukrainian troops reporting more progress since driving out Russian troops in a fifth province, Kharkov, earlier this month.
The head of the upper house of the Russian parliament said the chamber could consider the integration of the four regions into Russia on Oct. 4.
Fighting raged in various parts of Ukraine on Tuesday.
Zelenskiy said the Donetsk region to the east remained his country — and Russia’s — top strategic priority, with “particularly heavy” fighting engulfed several cities.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, the regional governor, said three civilians have been killed in the past 24 hours.
Ukrainian forces in the south continued to try to shut down bridges and other river crossings to disrupt supply lines to Russian forces. The air force said it shot down three Russian-made drones after an attack on the Mykolaiv region.
Reuters could not immediately verify the reports on the battlefield.
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)