Vladimir Putin’s chilling response to global sanctions

Russian President Vladimir Putin has responded to crippling sanctions imposed by the West after he ordered the invasion of Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has responded to crippling economic sanctions by putting Russian nuclear forces on high alert.

Countries across the world have hit Russia with a raft of measures after Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday.

Mr Putin reacted to the sanctions by what has been described as a chilling “escalation”.

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Russia President Vladimir Putin addresses the nation from the Kremlin. Picture: Supplied

“Western countries aren’t only taking unfriendly economic actions against our country, but leaders of major NATO countries are making aggressive statements about our country,” Mr Putin said.

“So I order to move Russia’s deterrence forces to a special regime of duty.”

He called the sanctions “illegal” as he ordered the defence mininster and chief of the general staff to put the Russian army on high combat alert.

The order means Russia’s nuclear weapons will be prepared for increased readiness to launch.

In another worrying sign of increased tensions in the region, Belarus this morning approved a new constitution that will allow the country to host Russian nuclear weapons.

World responds to Russia’s invasion

The EU announced harsh new sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, closing its airspace to Russian aircraft and banning Russian state media broadcasting in the bloc.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, announcing the measures, also said the European Union was taking the unprecedented step of financing arms to Ukraine, and was hitting Russian ally Belarus with sanctions for having facilitated the invasion.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a press statement on Russia's attack on Ukraine. Picture: AFP

The measures come on top of sanctions von der Leyen announced a day earlier that are about to be implemented: cutting some Russian banks from the SWIFT interbank messaging network, banning all transactions with Russia’s central bank, and added restrictions on Russian oligarchs.

The EU has also sanctioned Mr Putin and his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The US has targeted all ten of Russia’s largest financial companies, introducing measures against institutions holding nearly 80 per cent of Russian banking sector assets.

In a statement the White House said the sanctions and stringent export controls would have a profound impact on Russia’s economy, financial system, and access to cutting-edge technology.

The Australian Government said today it had implemented financial sanctions and travel bans on the Russian President, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, and Internal Affairs Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev.

US slams Russia’s escalation

The US condemned Mr Putin’s nuclear forces alert, and said his conventional ground forces were experiencing logistic problems in their invasion of Ukraine.

US officials said Mr Putin’s stunning announcement, four days after his powerful military launched an assault on Ukraine, was dangerously escalatory and part of a pattern of fabricating excuses to justify aggression.

US President Joe Biden has slammed Russia’s invasion. Picture: AFP

“This is a pattern that we’ve seen from President Putin through the course of this conflict, which is manufacturing threats that don’t exist in order to justify further aggression,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.

A senior US defence official, speaking on grounds of anonymity, said Mr Putin’s step came as Ukraine’s forces, helped by arms from the West, continued to stymie the advance of Russian troops, who this official said had run into fuel supply and other logistic problems.

“We believe that this is not only an unnecessary step for him to take, but an escalatory one,” the official said of Mr Putin’s nuclear announcement.

“Unnecessary because Russia has never been under threat by the West, by NATO and certainly wasn’t under any threat by Ukraine,” the official said.

“And escalatory because it is clearly potentially putting in play forces that, if there’s a miscalculation, could make things much, much more dangerous.”

The US defence official declined to say whether US nuclear forces, the world’s second largest, had been placed on higher alert.

“I would just tell you that we remain confident in our ability to defend ourselves and our allies and our partners. And that includes in the strategic deterrence realm.”

- with AFP