On March 25, Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would deploy tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus, its ally in the war in Ukraine. A month earlier, Russia suspended its participation in the “New Start” nuclear weapons treaty concluded with the United States. The new game of Russia’s nuclear muscles is already taking place according to a pattern that can be traced back to the beginning of the war.

With the plan for a quick invasion thwarted by increased resistance from the Ukrainian army, and the West more united than ever in the face of its aggression, Vladimir Putin proposed something that had not been done in any war for 75 years: the nuclear option. If the EU, the US and NATO blew up economic strikes and military options, which in the history of diplomacy towards Russia are equivalent to some bombs, the cornered leader from the Kremlin responded in a style that should not surprise anyone: a threat and an even bigger one.

But how serious is Vladimir Putin, and what does his order to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Russian Army Commander General Valery Gerasimov mean on Sunday to put Russia’s strategic deterrent forces on high alert?

Read more at Panorama.ro.