Vladimir Putin has approved an updated nuclear doctrine, saying that Russia could consider using nuclear weapons if it is subject to a conventional missile assault on it supported by a nuclear power.
Tuesday 19 November 2024 09:44, UK
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The UK has announced fresh sanctions against “perpetrators of Russia’s forced deportation and brainwashing of Ukrainian children” as the war enters its 1,000th day.
The package of 10 designations includes “leading Russian officials” and “state-linked youth organisations”, according to the Foreign Office.
“More than 19,500 Ukrainian children have been forcibly transferred or deported by the Russian authorities to Russia and the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine,” a statement read.
An estimated 6,000 Ukrainian children have been relocated to a network of re-education camps, it added.
“Once there, they are subjected to indoctrination efforts which seek to erode their Ukrainian identity and instil pro-Russian sentiments, a strategy dating back to Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea more than 10 years ago.
“Those responsible have been sanctioned today.”
Sanctioned today are:
The Kremlin has warned that Ukraine’s use of Western-supplied missiles against Russia could prompt a nuclear response.
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, revealed Moscow’s stance during his daily news briefing as he was asked about the significance of the changes to the nuclear doctrine approved by Vladimir Putin today.
According to state-run news agency Tass, he said the document “concerns the fact that the Russian Federation reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in the event of aggression with the use of conventional weapons against it” where that is deemed to have created “a critical threat to sovereignty or territorial integrity”.
When asked by journalists whether Russia would view the use of Western non-nuclear missiles by the Ukrainian armed forces as part of an attack by a non-nuclear state with the support of a nuclear state, and whether that would entail the possibility of Russia using nuclear weapons, Tass quoted him as replying: “Yes, that is what is being discussed.”
The comments would appear designed to allude to the Biden administration’s decision to allow Ukraine to use US-supplied missiles to strike deep into Russia.
It should be noted at this point that Moscow has made a series of threats to the West over its support for Ukraine throughout the war, often invoking the spectre of a nuclear response.
However, most analysts have suggested the warnings will not actually be acted on and are simply designed to deter Western nations from providing Kyiv with military backing.
Vladimir Putin has approved an updated nuclear doctrine, saying that Russia could consider using nuclear weapons if it is subject to a conventional missile assault on it supported by a nuclear power.
The decision to change Russia’s official nuclear doctrine has been in process for months – but Putin signing it this week appears to be a response to the Biden administration allowing Ukraine to fire American long-range missiles deep into Russia.
The updated doctrine, which outlines the threats which would make Russia’s leadership consider a nuclear strike, said an attack with conventional missiles, drones or other aircraft could be considered to meet these criteria.
It also said any aggression against Russia by a state which was a member of a coalition would be considered by Moscow to be aggression against it by the whole coalition.
Just weeks before the November US presidential elections, Putin ordered changes to the nuclear doctrine to say that any conventional attack on Russia aided by a nuclear power could be considered to be a joint attack on Russia.
The 1,000-day-old Ukraine war has triggered the gravest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis – considered to be the closest the two Cold War superpowers came to intentional nuclear war.
Chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay has been discussing the current situation in Ukraine as the war enters its 1,000th day.
“I think we’re entering a very critical phase here because obviously it’s the end of the Biden presidency and then Trump will come in,” he says.
“And what will happen to the country after that? Will he try to negotiate an end to the war? He said he’s going to do it in a day, but hasn’t given any details as to how that is going to happen.
“And I think that’s contributed to an awful lot of people here being very concerned about the future.
“Of course, the news that long-range weapons will be allowed to be used by the Ukrainian army, it gave a sort of fillip to the people.
“But I was here a thousand days ago and I have to say that I, and many others, didn’t think the Ukrainian defence would be as effective as it was and has been.
“Much more importantly, however, is that President Putin didn’t think he’d be looking at a thousand days of war. He thought that he was going to roll this government over and put in a new power that was supportive of Moscow.
“Well, none of that has happened.
“President Zelenskyy will speak to the EU parliament today. He’ll then address the nation, coming up with a new sort of plan, a vision for the future.
“It’s a lot about investment. But he also talks about what’s happening on the front line, and that is not awfully good, particularly in the east of the country.
“Russia is in the ascendancy there.”
The US has become directly involved in the war by allowing Ukraine to fire its long-range missiles at Russia, former Putin adviser Sergey Markov has said.
He told Sky News’ The World the US was only using Russia’s deployment of North Korean troops against Ukraine as a “pretence”.
“Joe Biden wants to block attempts of Donald Trump when he will be inaugurated as president to make a peace deal.”
He said that if Ukraine uses the UK’s long-range missiles, known as Storm Shadow, against Russia with the participation of British officers, the British military would become a target along with that of the US.
“If United States and Great Britain are now directly taking part in a war against Russia, it means that all militaries of US and Great Britain become legitimate goals for the Russian military.”
Changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine have been drawn up and will be formalised as necessary, the Kremlin has said – in a fresh signal of Moscow’s anger over the latest US decision on missile strikes from Ukraine.
“They (the changes) have already been practically formulated. They will be formalised as necessary,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the TASS state news agency in remarks published this morning.
It comes after the Kremlin yesterday called the decision by President Joe Biden’s administration to allow Ukraine to fire American missiles deep into Russia reckless, and warned Moscow will respond.
Russia, which launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine 1,000 days ago, has repeatedly cautioned that the West is playing with fire by probing the limits of what a nuclear power might or might not tolerate.
In September, Vladimir Putin said Western approval of Kyiv’s use of long-range missiles would mean “the direct involvement of NATO countries, the United States and European countries in the war in Ukraine” because NATO military infrastructure and personnel would have to be involved in the targeting and firing of the missiles.
By Ivor Bennett, Moscow correspondent
If there’s one thing that defines what Russia has become over the past 1,000 days, it’s the letter Z.
What began as a military marking at the start of the war has been transformed into a national emblem that’s on clothing, bumper stickers, and even buildings.
It’s thought to stand for “Za pobedu” (For victory).
Ostensibly, it’s a patriotic symbol of support for Russia’s so-called special military operation.
But given what happens to those who oppose the war, it’s hard not to see it as a menacing reminder that dissent isn’t tolerated.
In Russia right now, Gen Z is all that exists.
Anna Bazhutova is one of the many who found out the hard way.
In June this year, the 31-year-old video blogger was jailed for five and a half years after sharing witness accounts online about alleged Russian atrocities in the Ukrainian city of Bucha.
She was found guilty of spreading false information about the Russian army, one of many laws introduced in the wake of Moscow’s full-scale invasion.
“The sentence is unjustifiably harsh,” Ms Bazhutova’s partner Aleksandr told me.
“Even if we consider that some offence exists, this sentence is incomparably large.
“It is practically for nothing. Just words.”
And that’s just it. Words have become weaponised in Russia, and are now used against those who don’t utter the right ones.
According to human rights watchdog OVD-Info, more than 1,000 people have been prosecuted in Russia for speaking out against the war, with over 20,000 detained for protesting.
“Vladimir Putin right now is essentially waging a two-front war,” Dan Storyev, OVD-Info’s English managing editor, told Sky News.
“One front is against Ukrainians on the battlefield. And the other war is domestic.
“It’s against whoever the Kremlin sees as traitors, as a danger to the regime.”
Last week, a Moscow court jailed a 68-year-old paediatrician for more than five years after she was publicly denounced by the mother of one of her patients for comments she allegedly made about Russian soldiers.
Like Anna Bazhutova, 68-year-old Nadezhda Buyanova was convicted of spreading “fakes” about the Russian army.
But in her case, there was no video evidence, only the word of her accuser.
For the court, that was enough, regardless of Ms Buyanova’s denials.
Activists say the case is especially concerning because of its historical echoes.
Russians informing on one another was a hallmark of the suspicion that was rife under Soviet rule and the practice appears to be growing as the war grinds on.
“It is minuscule compared to what Stalin had but it definitely is something that is very worrying,” Mr Storyev said.
“And this is something that the Russian state is actively trying to grow.”
Unlike the Z symbols, this trend of informing isn’t visible.
But you can sense it.
There’s a climate of fear that becomes apparent in everyday interactions.
People don’t refer to the war directly, but instead use phrases like “since 2022” or “the current situation”.
Euphemisms, because no one’s sure who’s listening.
1,000 days is not a milestone Russia wanted to reach, of course.
The invasion was supposed to be over in a matter of weeks.
But since those early missteps and miscalculations, the Kremlin has characterised the conflict as an existential struggle against the West, akin to a holy war that it almost revels in.
It has become the defining feature of Russia’s current national identity.
Will it last another 1,000 days? If it does, the likes of Anna Bazhutova and Nadezhda Buyanova will be barely halfway through their sentences.
“Humour really helps to hold on. We constantly joke about everything,” Aleksandr tells me, when I ask him how Ms Bazhutova is doing.
“But sometimes she has breakdowns. Sometimes she does not have the strength to hold on any more and cries hysterically.”
The northeastern Ukrainian region of Sumy has been hit by a deadly Russian attack for a second consecutive day.
Six people were killed, including a child, in Russia’s drone strike – the day after 11 people died following a missile strike in the same area – regional officials said this morning.
Twelve people were injured in today’s drone attack on a residential dormitory in the small town of Hlukhiv, according to the military administration of the Sumy region, which borders Russia.
Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine, on the 1,000th day of the conflict.
Europe is waiting for Kyiv to use its new permissions to fire US long-range missiles into Russia.
Reports emerged over the weekend that Joe Biden had lifted a ban on Ukraine’s use of the rockets into Russian territory and Kyiv is reportedly planning to conduct its first long-range attacks in the coming days.
Russia has responded with fury, threatening to retaliate to what it called a “radical change” in the conflict.
But Ukrainian politicians have pointed out the Kremlin made the same threats when Ukrainian allies decided to supply multiple-rocket launchers in the summer of 2022, battle tanks in February 2023, and F-16 fighter jets this year.
Meanwhile, Ukraine suffered two deadly Russian attacks that killed multiple children:
Beyond Ukraine, the Finnish and German governments said European security was under threat from “malicious actors” carrying out “hybrid warfare” after a Baltic undersea cable was severed.
And Ukrainian allies lined up to criticise German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for holding a phone call with Vladimir Putin last Friday.
Stay with us as we bring you all the latest updates and analysis throughout the day.
That’s all for our live coverage this evening, but we’ll be back with more updates tomorrow.
If you’re just checking in, here is a recap of the key moments of the day.
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