Vladimir Putin has told his top generals on Tuesday that Russia must “speed up” decision-making in relation to the war in Ukraine.
Speaking at the first meeting of a new coordination council Putin said increased coordination of government structures and regions was necessary, Reuters reported.
The US, UK and Turkey have fears that Putin is growing so desperate to end and win the war he could be planning nuclear terrorism in the form of a dirty bomb which is a pretext for an immediate escalation in the conflict.
Washington has told Moscow that any use of nuclear weapons or a radioactive dirty bomb then this will trigger “severe consequences.”
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Tobias Ellwood, chair of the House of Commons Defence Committee, gave a stern blunt warning that the West “must not blink” over risk that a very “desperate” Putin could detonate a nuclear weapon.
Ellwood told Metro.co.uk, “Putin knows he’s losing.
“His army has been humiliated on the battlefield and he must turn his war of choice around or it could be the beginning of his demise.
“Hence he is going unconventional, putting in place false flags to blame Ukraine for going nuclear.”
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu made serious allegations that Ukraine are in fact going to detonate a radioactive bomb without offering any evidence.
Speaking during his Monday night address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned, “If Russia calls and says that Ukraine is allegedly preparing something, it means one thing: Russia has already prepared all this.”
The US State Department spokesman Ned Price said, “We’ve been very clear with the Russians about the severe consequences that would result from nuclear use.
“There would be consequences for Russia whether it uses a dirty bomb or a nuclear bomb.”
White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters, “We continue to see nothing in the way of preparations by the Russian side for the use of nuclear weapons.”
In a letter sent to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said: “We will regard the use of the dirty bomb by the Kyiv regime as an act of nuclear terrorism.”
Norway’s prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre told Parliament on Tuesday over the current situation on the ground in Ukraine.
Assessing the threat that Putin will launch nuclear weapons he said this remains low, but “it is not zero.”
Støre told Norweigan MPs, “Russia has many different types of nuclear weapons, including several different categories of what are referred to as tactical nuclear weapons.
“These are intended for use in extension of conventional weapon systems.
“The use of nuclear weapons would cross an unheard-of boundary.
“We consider that the probability of use is still low. But it is not zero.
“In light of the language used, we cannot reject the possibility. Although the probability is low, it has increased.
“We must assume that the purpose of the threats is to weaken Western solidarity with Ukraine.
“It is a form of blackmail.”
