The Russian Defense Ministry announced this Saturday, October 29, that it is suspending its participation in the agreement on the export of grains from Ukraine, after accusing kyiv of an alleged drone attack in Sevastopol, Crimea. The authorities of the attacked country responded by accusing the Kremlin of feigning “terrorist attacks” to abandon the UN-mediated pact, to mitigate the shortage of agricultural products after Moscow’s blockades of Ukrainian ports and their effects on inflation.
The Russian Navy stationed in the Black Sea said on Saturday that its military repelled a drone attack on Sevastopol, a port city on the Crimean peninsula in southern Ukraine, which was annexed by Moscow in 2014.
“Ships of the Black Sea Fleet repelled a drone attack in the waters of Sevastopol Bay,” said Mikhail Razvojayev, the Kremlin-imposed regional governor.
The local authorities affirmed that their defenses prevented the infrastructure from being damaged, however they assured that it was the “most massive” attack on the peninsula since the beginning of the conflict. They also reported that it was decided to close the crossing of the Sevastopol Bay by boat, temporarily and as a precautionary measure.
“Nothing has been affected in the city. We are calm. The situation is under control.”
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov accused the UK of helping Ukraine plan an attack he called “terrorist”. And he went further, claiming that the British were involved in blowing up the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines.
“The attack involved nine unmanned aerial vehicles and seven autonomous marine drones. Due to the measures taken by the ships of the Black Sea fleet, all air targets were destroyed,” Konashenkov said.
These claims were roundly rejected by London, calling them “false on an epic scale”. The British Ministry of Defense spokesman said such an unsubstantiated accusation is intended to “distract from the disastrous handling of the illegal invasion of Ukraine.”
Meanwhile, Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry, said Saturday’s explosions in Sevastopol Bay were the result of “negligent handling of explosives” by the Russians.
Moscow puts the nuclear issue back on the table
Russia issued new nuclear warnings, in the midst of the war against Ukraine. This time she exposed him behind an accusation against the United States.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said the US government would be lowering the nuclear threshold in Europe. Action that Moscow will take into account in its military planning, he stressed.
“We cannot ignore the plans to modernize nuclear weapons, those free-fall bombs that are in Europe,” Grushko was quoted as saying by the state news agency RIA.
His statements came after the US media outlet ‘Politico’ reported on October 26 that, during a private NATO meeting, Washington indicated that this month it would accelerate the deployment of a modernized version of the B61 bomb, the B61-12. . The new weapons would arrive at European bases next December, several months earlier than planned.
US to send hi-tech nuclear weapons to Nato bases amid rising tensions with Russia
Deployment of B61-12 tactical bombs to Europe comes after Moscow held military exercises showing its own ballistic capabilities
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— Telegraph World News (@TelegraphWorld) October 28, 2022
The B61 is the main thermonuclear weapon in the US atomic arsenal after the end of the Cold War.
The 12-foot B61-12 gravity bomb carries a lower-yield nuclear warhead than many earlier versions, but is more accurate and can penetrate underground, according to research by the Federation of American Scientists published in 2014.
“The United States is modernizing them, increasing their accuracy and reducing the power of the nuclear payload, that is, turning these weapons into ‘battlefield weapons,’ thus lowering the nuclear threshold,” Grushko stressed.
Questioned about the publication of ‘Politico’, a spokesman for the Joe Biden government stated that the nuclear details would not be discussed, but that the modernization of the B61 weapons had been underway for years.
What is behind Moscow’s accusations against kyiv and Washington on nuclear matters?
This is not the first time that Russia has threatened or boasted about its nuclear program – the largest in the world – after launching the invasion against its neighboring country on February 24.
On October 23, Moscow accused kyiv of allegedly preparing the use of a “dirty bomb”. That is, conventional explosives mixed with radioactive material.
The accusation was rejected by the invaded country that does not have nuclear weapons and that has invited UN inspectors to two locations indicated by the Putin Administration as places where said weapon would supposedly be prepared. Senior Western defense officials called the Russian claim “patently false” and “absurd.”
But experts indicate that behind the Kremlin’s accusation would be hidden the intention to use this type of explosive and then blame Ukraine, as a pretext to increase the escalation.
The invading troops have suffered significant setbacks in the last two months on the ground, so considering this type of attack shows the desperation of the Kremlin to give a forceful blow to a country that has resisted and counterattacks in a conflict that has spread throughout more than eight months, analysts point out.
Amid the Ukraine crisis, President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that Russia will defend its territory with all available means, including nuclear weapons, if attacked. This after having annexed four partially occupied regions in Ukraine that Russia now considers as part of its territory, despite the resounding rejection of the international community.
On October 26, Russia activated its strategic forces in a simulated massive nuclear attack. The exercises, which were monitored by President Vladimir Putin, included missile launches and the mobilization of nuclear bombers and submarines.
However, the head of state has also issued ambiguous statements on this matter. Just one day later, on October 27, Putin assured that he had no intention of using nuclear weapons in Ukraine. In the same speech he stressed that he can do it under defense circumstances.
His words contrasted sharply with those he had spoken a month earlier. On September 21, the Kremlin leader was more precise when he stressed that his nation has a nuclear arsenal even greater than that of the member countries of NATO, led by the United States, which he would not hesitate to use. “I’m not lying,” he said at the time.
Russia has around 2,000 operational tactical nuclear weapons, while the United States has around 200 such weapons, half of which are at bases in Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belgium and the Netherlands.
With Reuters, AP and EFE
