President Vladimir Putin on Sunday put Russian nuclear forces on ‘special alert’, the highest level of alert for Russia’s  Strategic Missile Forces, after comments from several NATO countries that he called ‘aggressive’.

Speaking with top military officials, including Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, Putin said that western nations had taken “unfriendly actions” towards Russia and that the sanctions they imposed were “illegitimate”. 

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“Western countries aren’t only taking unfriendly actions against our country in the economic sphere, but top officials from leading NATO members made aggressive statements regarding our country,” Putin said in televised comments.

The order means Putin wants Russia’s
nuclear weapons prepared for increased readiness to launch and raises the
threat that Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and the West’s response to it could
boil over into nuclear warfare.

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In the days leading up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Putin threatened to retaliate harshly against any nations that intervened
directly in the conflict in Ukraine, and he specifically raised the specter of
his country’s status as a nuclear power.

Putin’s warning of consequences “you have never seen in your history” for “whoever tries to hinder us” were widely interpreted as threats of a nuclear attack. 

However, the move of shifting to a high alert status may not indicate Moscow’s intent on using its nuclear arsenal. Russia has the highest number of nuclear weapons in the world, but knows that the NATO countries together have enough to destroy Russia, a report in The BBC indicated. 

Also Read | Jens Stoltenberg calls Putin’s nuclear move a ‘dangerous rhetoric’

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations
responded to the news from Moscow while appearing on a Sunday news program.

“President Putin is continuing to escalate
this war in a manner that is totally unacceptable,” Ambassador Linda
Thomas-Greenfield said. “And we have to continue to condemn his actions in the
most strong, strongest possible way.” 

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Russia and the United States typically have the land-
and submarine-based segments of their strategic nuclear forces on alert and
prepared for combat at all times, but nuclear-capable bombers and other aircraft
are not.