October, 29, 2022

1. The President took part in the meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club

The four day-long meeting brought together 111 experts, politicians, diplomats and economists from Russia and 40 foreign countries. Here are some highlights of his address [full text of Putin’s remarks is available at: http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/69695}

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(a) relations with the West

Putin quoted Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s famous Harvard Commencement Address delivered in 1978. Solzhenitsyn said that typical of the West is “a continuous blindness of superiority”– and it continues to this day – which “upholds the belief that vast regions everywhere on our planet should develop and mature to the level of present-day Western systems.” Solzhenitsyn said this in 1978. Nothing has changed, Putin noted.

He continued: “The conceited aspiration to achieve global supremacy and, essentially, to dictate or preserve leadership by dictate is really reducing the international prestige of the leaders of the Western world, including the United States, and increasing mistrust in their ability to negotiate in general. They say one thing today and another tomorrow; they sign documents and renounce them, they do what they want. There is no stability in anything. How documents are signed, what was discussed, what can we hope for – all this is completely unclear.

In the current conditions of intense conflict, I will be direct about certain things. As an independent and distinctive civilization, Russia has never considered and does not consider itself an enemy of the West. Americophobia, Anglophobia, Francophobia, and Germanophobia are the same forms of racism as Russophobia or anti-Semitism, and, incidentally, xenophobia in all its guises.

We tried to build up relations with the leading countries of the West and with NATO.

We were absolutely sincere, I want to emphasise that. We clearly understood the complexity of this rapprochement, but we agreed to it.

What did we get in response? In short, we got a ”no“ in all the main areas of possible cooperation. We received an ever-increasing pressure on us and hotbeds of tension near our borders. And what, may I ask, is the purpose of this pressure? What is it? Is it just to practice? Of course not. The goal was to make Russia more vulnerable. The purpose is to turn Russia into a tool to achieve their own geopolitical goals.

(b) Russo-Ukrainian relations

I have said this many times, and you will hardly hear anything new today. What happened? I will not speak about NATO’s expansion to Ukraine, which was absolutely unacceptable to us, and everyone knew that but simply disregarded our security interests. Yet another attempt we made late last year failed again. We were told to shove it, to be quiet and… Alright, I will not say this in so many words, but they just ignored us. This is the first point.

Second, it is important that representatives of the Kiev regime, supported by their Western handlers, refused to implement the Minsk agreements. Their leader said that he did not like a single provision of the Minsk agreements. He said this in public! Other officials said openly that they would not implement them. The former [Ukrainian] president said that he signed the Minsk agreements on the premise that they would never be implemented. What other reasons do you need?

It is one thing when the media and the Internet are used to plant some idea in the heads of millions, but real actions and practical policy are quite another matter. What I have told you now went unnoticed by millions of people, because it is lost in the information space, but you and I are aware of it.

All that was eventually said. What did it mean for us? It meant that we had to do something in Donbass.

What could it be? We could recognise their independence. But recognising their independence and leaving them in the lurch was unacceptable. So, we had to take the next step, which we did – to include them in the Russian state. They would not have survived alone, there is no doubt about that.

What if we recognise them and make them part of the Russian state at their request, for we know what people think, but the shelling and military operations planned by the Kiev regime continue and are inevitable? They have held two large-scale military operations; it is true that they did not succeed, but they were held. The shelling would certainly have continued. What could we do? Launch an operation. Why wait for them to be the first to do it? We knew that they were preparing to do it. Of course, this is the inevitable logic of events.

We weren’t the ones who invented this logic. Why did they need the 2014 coup d’état in Ukraine in the first place? Yanukovych actually agreed to resign and hold an early election. It was clear that his chances – I hope Mr Yanukovych won’t feel offended – his chances were slim, if any. So, what was the point of staging a bloody anti-state and unconstitutional coup in that situation? No idea. But there is only one answer – to show who’s the boss. Everyone – excuse me, my apologies to the ladies – everyone sit quietly and keep your mouths shut, just do what we say. I just can't explain it any other way.

So, they committed a coup d'état – but people in Crimea or in Donbass refused to recognise it, and that eventually led to today’s tragic events. Why couldn’t the so-called West fulfil the agreements that were reached in Minsk?

They told me, personally – in that situation, you, too, would have signed anything, if you were put in such conditions. But still, they signed it! They signed it and insisted that the leaders of the republics of Donbass, unrecognised at the time, put their signatures on it, too. And then they just murdered one of them – Zakharchenko.

All these actions led to today’s tragic events, and that’s all there is to it.

(c) nuclear weapons (NW)

As long as nuclear weapons exist, there will always be a danger that they could be used.

This is the first thing.

Second, the goal of the current fuss around such threats and the potential use of nuclear weapons is very primitive, and I would probably be not mistaken when I explain what this is about.

I already said that the dictate of the Western countries and their attempts to apply pressure on all the participants of international communication, including countries that are neutral or friendly to us, are achieving nothing, and they are looking for additional arguments to convince our friends or neutral states that they all need to confront Russia collectively.

Nuclear provocation and the inflaming of the possibility that Russia might theoretically use nuclear weapons are being used to reach these goals: to influence our friends, our allies, and neutral states by telling them, look at whom you support; Russia is such a scary country, do not support it, do not cooperate with it, do not trade with it. This is, in fact, a primitive goal.

What is happening in reality?

All we did was hint in response to statements made by Western leaders. Ms Liz Truss, the recent Prime Minister of Great Britain, directly stated in a conversation with a media representative that Great Britain is a nuclear power and the Prime Minister's duty is to possibly use nuclear weapons, and she will do so. It's not a quote, but close to the original wording. “I'm ready to do that.” You see, no one responded to that in any way. Suppose she just spaced out and let it slip. How can you say such things publicly? She did, though. [NOTE: the issue with such Truss’ statement is that currently the UK does not have tactical nuclear weapons, the UK had them in the past; the UK has strategic nuclear weapons only; so, the threat from Truss was more dangerous and provocative]

They should have set her straight, or Washington could have publicly stated that it has nothing to do with this. We have no idea what she is talking about, they could have said. There was no need to hurt anyone’s feelings; all they had to do was dissociate themselves from what she said. But everyone was silent. What are we supposed to think? We thought it was a coordinated position and that we were being blackmailed. What are we supposed to do? Remain silent and pretend that we did not hear anything, or what?

(d) Kiev’s lust for obtaining NW and making “a dirty N-bomb’

There are several other statements about this matter. Kiev never stops talking about its desire to possess nuclear weapons.

They keep talking about our outrageous actions at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant. What is so outrageous about it? That is how they word it sometimes. They are constantly insinuating that we are firing missiles at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant. Have they lost it altogether, or what? We are in control of this nuclear power plant. Our troops are stationed there.

A couple of months ago, I talked with a Western leader. I asked him what we should do. He told me we needed to remove heavy weapons from the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant. I agreed and said that we had already done so and there were no heavy weapons there. “You did? Well, then remove the other ones.” (Laughter.)

It is nonsense, you see? You are laughing, it is funny, indeed. But it is almost verbatim what he said. I told him, listen, you wanted the IAEA representatives to be present at the station. We agreed, and they are there.

They live right on the grounds of the nuclear power plant. They see with their own eyes what is going on, who is shooting and where the shells are coming from. After all, no one is saying that Ukrainian troops are shelling the nuclear power plant. And they are stirring things up and blaming Russia for this. That is delusional. It looks like a delusion, but it is actually happening.

I think I have already publicly said that the Kiev regime’s sabotage groups had destroyed three or four high-voltage overhead power lines outside the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant. Unfortunately, the FSB was unable to catch them. Hopefully, it will someday. They escaped. But they were the ones who did it.

We let all Western partners know about the incident.

That is, they are seeking to stage some kind of a nuclear incident in order to lay responsibility on Russia and stir up a new round of their battle against Russia, sanctions against Russia, and so on. I just do not see any other point in doing so. This is what is happening.

Now they have invented something new. It was no accident that we went public about the information from our security services that they are preparing an incident with the so-called dirty bomb. Such a bomb is easy to make, and we even know its approximate location. Slightly modified remains of nuclear fuel – Ukraine has the technologies needed to do that – are loaded into the Tochka-U, it blows up and they say that it was Russia that made a nuclear strike.

But we have no need to do so; there is no sense in it for us, neither political nor military. But they are going to do it, nevertheless. It was me who instructed [Defence] Minister [Sergei] Shoigu to call all his colleagues and inform them about it. We cannot disregard such things.

Now they say that the IAEA wants to come and inspect Ukraine’s nuclear facilities. We encourage this, and we believe that it should be done as soon as possible and the inspections should be at all such facilities, because we know that the Kiev authorities are doing their best to cover their tracks. They are working on it.

[see please more info in para 3 in this Report]

(e) ‘no’ to NW employment

Finally, about using or not using [nuclear weapons]. The only country in the world which has used nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear state was the United States of America; it used it twice against Japan. [NOTE: the USA intended to use tactical nuclear weapons five times after 1945 – during major regional crises, e.g. during the Vietnam war, the Cuban missile crisis, the Berlin crisis, in Afghanistan and Iraq]. What was the goal? There was no military need for it at all. What was the military practicability to use nuclear weapons against Hiroshima and Nagasaki, against civilians? Had there been a threat to the US territorial integrity? Of course not. It was not practical from the military point of view either, because Japan’s war machine had already been destroyed, it was not able to resist, so what was the point in dealing the final blow with nuclear weapons?

By the way, Japanese textbooks usually say that it was the Allies that struck a nuclear blow at Japan. They have such a firm grip over Japan that the Japanese cannot even write the truth in their school textbooks. Even though they commemorate this tragedy every year. Good for the Americans, we should all probably follow their example. Great job.

But such things happen, this is life. So, the US is the only country that has done it because it believed it was in its interests.

As for Russia…We have the Military Doctrine, and they should read it. One of its articles explains the cases when, why, in relation to what and how Russia considers it possible to use weapons of mass destruction in the form of nuclear weapons to protect its sovereignty, territorial integrity and to ensure the safety of the Russian people.

(f)  Vladimir Putin responded to South Korea's decision to supply weapons to Ukraine

Speaking at a plenary session of the Valdai discussion club, Putin said that Russia was aware of the Republic of Korea's plans to supply arms and ammunition to Ukraine, and that this would destroy South Korea's relations with Russia.

"How would the Republic of Korea feel about the fact that we would resume cooperation with North Korea in this area? Would that make you happy? I ask you to pay attention to this," Putin underscored.

[NOTE: Republic of Korea agreed to supply lethal arms to Ukraine via Poland by promising to send to Warsaw 1,000 K2 tanks, 672 K9 self-propelled howitzers, and 48 FA-50 light combat aircraft, along with 288 MLRS. See more details in para 3, Report # 159 released October 22, 2022. But does Poland really need such huge amount of arms for its national defense?]

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2. Moscow reveals key mobilization results, the campaign is over

Russia’s partial mobilization has been completed, with 300,000 reservists drafted as planned, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin on October 28, providing new details about the effort.

“No additional tasks are planned. Military commissariats within the framework of the special military operation will continue to replenish and were sent to join the troops as volunteers,” the minister added. The troops may accept volunteers and candidates for military service under the contract, he noted. “13,000 citizens, without waiting for summonses, expressed a desire to fulfill their duty.

According to the defense minister, 82,000 mobilized troops were sent to the combat zone. Another 218,000 draftees are getting ready for combat duty at training centers and training grounds. The average age of the reservists called up as part of the mobilization is 35, he announced.

3. Kiev made dummy missile for provocation with 'a dirty N-bomb'

The Kiev regime has already completed technical preparations for a provocation with a "dirty bomb," having prepared a dummy missile, which is planned to be filled with radioactive material.

"Experts from the Yuzhmash plant [NOTE: it is capable to build different types of missiles in Ukraine] have already made a dummy missile of the Iskander-type system, the head cluster part of which is planned to be filled with radioactive material, and then 'shot down' by Ukrainian air defense forces over the exclusion zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (NPP) in order to declare a Russian launch of a nuclear charge," the source said.

He clarified that the model of the Iskander missile was made on the basis of a projectile from the Tochka-U missile system Ukraine currently possesses.

"After the dummy is shot down, the Kiev authorities intend to show the Western and Ukrainian media fragments of the mockup and electronics of the alleged Iskander missile in order to convince the Western public of Russia's guilt," the source said.

What is ‘a 'dirty N-bomb' and why is Russia warning about it?

On October 23, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu informed his four NATO counterparts [the USA, the UK, France and Turkey] that Kiev may be preparing a false-flag dirty N-bomb attack against its own territory to accuse Moscow of nuclear terror. If such a provocation takes place, it could irradiate wide swathes of land, endanger thousands of lives, and dramatically escalate the crisis.

Russia’s nuclear doctrine forbids the use of nuclear weapons of any kind unless the country is attacked using weapons of mass destruction, or faces a conventional attack so severe it threatens the very existence of Russia. But that fact is unlikely to stop the West from blaming Russia in the event of a false-flag dirty N-bomb attack, Moscow fears.

What is a dirty N-bomb and how does it work?

A dirty N-bomb is typically a conventional explosive device that contains radioactive material, be it uranium, plutonium, or other radioactive waste material byproducts generated by things like nuclear power generation or radiological medicine. Negative effect may be attained be melting down any peaceful nuclear reactor at any NPP

Why is Russia warning about a dirty N-bomb?

Washington, Paris, and London dismissed the warning in the written form, saying they “reject Russia’s transparently false allegations that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory” and suggesting that “the world would see through any attempt to use this allegation as a pretext for escalation.”

On October 24, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphasized that the dirty N-bomb threat was real, and would not cease to exist just because Western officials refuse to believe it. Separately, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov vowed to bring the matter up at the United Nations Security Council that has been convened October 25, and stressed that Moscow has “specific information” about the Ukrainian scientific institutions that have the technology to build a dirty N-bomb.

Dirty N-bombs vs. nuclear bombs

Dirty N-bombs do not cause nuclear explosions, and as such do not cause the same kind of widespread material destruction that nuclear weapons do. Instead, their main purpose is to spew radioactive contamination across areas spanning dozens or even hundreds of kilometers, leaving them uninhabitable and dangerous to the health of the surrounding population and/or troops.

4. US to modernize nuclear arsenal in Europe – Politico

The Pentagon has reportedly accelerated the delivery of more accurate N-bombs to Europe

US online newspaper reported on October 27. According to the newspaper, the delivery of the upgraded version of the bomb was originally planned for the spring of 2023. However, according to a diplomatic cable, US officials told NATO allies during a closed meeting in Brussels in October 2022 that the deployment is now planned for December this year [NOTE: there is another information that B-61-12 N-bombs have been already delivered to European NATO allies].

In December 2021, it was reported that the US military-industrial complex had handed over to the Department of Defense the first production sample of the upgraded B61-12 N-bomb. The B61 aerial bomb has been in service since 1968 with several modifications. The new bomb can be dropped from the B2 and B-21 strategic bombers, as well as F-15, F-16, F-35, and Tornado fighter jets. It has a maximum nuclear yield – 50 kt.

The US has brought forward delivery of upgraded B61-12 air-dropped guided nuclear bombs to NATO bases in Europe, Politico reported, citing a US diplomatic cable and two people familiar with the matter. The B61 is a family of nuclear bombs originally developed in the 1960s. The upgraded version is equipped with a modern tail kit for greater accuracy, according to the US Department of Energy. The weapon is designed to be carried by a number of Western aircraft, including B-2 and B-21 bombers, as well as F-15, F-16, F-35, and Tornado jet fighters.

In an emailed comment to Politico, Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder declined to discuss the details of the US nuclear arsenal, but said that the replacement of the older-generation B61 bombs for the B61-12 version is “part of a long-planned and scheduled modernization effort.” “It is in no way linked to current events in Ukraine and was not sped up in any way,” Ryder added.

5.  Russia warned it might destroy commercial civilian satellites used for military purposes

Western nations have been using formally civilian space assets to conduct military action against Russia in Ukraine, a Russian diplomat has said, warning that the country may consider these types of satellites to be legitimate military targets.

Speaking at a space event at the UN on October 26, Russian representative Konstantin Vorontsov, who serves as Deputy head of the Arms Control and non-proliferation department in the Russian Foreign Ministry, expressed concern about the “extremely dangerous” trend that “came to the forefront during the conflict in Ukraine.” The US and its allies have been using “elements of the civilian space infrastructure, including commercial, for military purposes.” “These nations apparently do not quite realize that such activity essentially constitutes an involvement in military action through a proxy. quasi-civilian infrastructure may be considered a legitimate target for a retaliatory strike,” he warned. Vorontsov said this path of escalation could become disastrous for all nations relying on space technology in their lives. He urged international discussion of the situation to prevent a “full-scale arms race in space.”

The US has been supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russia with arms supplies and other forms of military aid, such as intelligence, while claiming not to be directly involved in the conflict. General John Raymond, the head of the Space Operations (US Space Force), said in July 2022 that “commercial space has been very important in providing capabilities that have been helpful to Ukraine.” 

Written by Vladimir P. Kozin