Putin orders Russia’s nuclear deterrent forces to be on high alert

President Vladimir Putin has ordered his military to put the country’s nuclear deterrence forces on high alert in response to “aggressive statements” by NATO countries.

The order, which was announced by the state-run Tass news agency, came at a meeting between Putin, defence minister Sergei Shoigu and chief of the general staff of the armed forces of Russia, Valery Gerasimov.

“Senior officials of the leading Nato countries also allow aggressive statements against our country, therefore I order the Minister of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff [of the Russian Armed Forces] to transfer the deterrence forces of the Russian army to a special mode of combat duty,” Putin said in the statement.

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