Videos of President Vladimir Putin allegedly showing his reaction to US President Joe Biden’s announcement on the use of US missiles against targets within Russian territory are circulating on social media.
According to media reports, US President Joe Biden has authorized Ukraine to useATACMS missiles (short for Army Tactical Missile System) against targets within Russian territory. These missiles have a range of about 300 kilometers (185 miles), and Ukraine’s army will be able to use them against Russian and North Korean troops in the Kursk region of western Russia, which borders Ukraine. Several videos claiming to feature statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin directly responding to Biden’s announcement are circulating on social media. .
Claim: “Breaking: Vladimir Putin just announced to use nuclear weapons if a mass missile or UAV is launched toward Russia, or when these weapons cross into Russian territory,” one X user claims in a post that has already been viewed nearly 7 million times and has been shared more than 11,000 times. The post also features a report by the Russian state broadcaster RT, which has an appearance by Putin.
DW fact check: misleading
A reverse image search revealed that the video and Putin’s statement were not made in response to Biden’s recent decision. The RT report is almost two months old and includes a clip of the Russian Federation Security Council standing conference on nuclear deterrence that took place in September, 2024.
At this meeting, the decision was made to change the existing Russian doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons. Putin said that the list of military threats against which nuclear weapons can be used as a deterrent would be expanded: “I would like to draw your attention specifically to the following. The updated version of the document is supposed to regard an aggression against Russia from any non-nuclear-weapon state but involving or supported by any nuclear state as their joint attack against the Russian Federation.”
The possibility of a preemptive strike was also discussed at the meeting. The old doctrine only permitted the use of nuclear weapons as a counterstrike.
On Tuesday of this week, Putin signed a decree that broadens the scope of when Russia can use nuclear weapons, sending out a clear message to the West and Ukraine. The new doctrine would effectively enable Moscow to launch a nuclear response in the event of a “massive launch of air and space weapons,” even if these are conventional arms.
This video is not the only one currently being circulated on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, with claims that it is Putin’s alleged reaction to Biden’s recent decision. Another viral video post on X claims that Putin said that Russia was “now officially at war with NATO.” However, the video also dates from September 12, 2024, when Putin commented in St. Petersburg on the possible decision by Western states to allow Ukraine to use longer-range weapons. He warned that Western approval of such a step would mean “the direct involvement of NATO countries, the USA and European countries in the war in Ukraine”.
There has not been any official reaction from Putin since Biden’s decision to give the green light to Ukraine on using missiles. So far, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova merely referred to earlier statements by the Kremlin leader, including one from September 12.
On November 18, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in Moscow that allowing Ukraine to use missiles in Russia would trigger a “significant new round of escalation.” He also referred to Putin’s September statement: “Only NATO military personnel can assign flight missions to these missile systems. Ukrainian servicemen cannot do this. Therefore, it is not a question of allowing the Ukrainian regime to strike Russia with these weapons or not. It is about deciding whether NATO countries become directly involved in the military conflict or not.”
Peskov said the new version of the nuclear doctrine was a “very important” document that should be “studied” abroad. “It was necessary to bring our principles in line with the current situation,” he added.
This article was translated from German.
https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-is-putin-threatening-to-use-nuclear-weapons/a-70819299
“Breaking: Vladimir Putin just announced to use nuclear weapons if a mass missile or UAV is launched toward Russia, or when these weapons cross into Russian territory,” one X user claims in a post that has already been viewed nearly 7 million times and has been shared more than 11,000 times. The post also features a report by the Russian state broadcaster RT, which has an appearance by Putin.”
What a surprise, comrade Musk allowing fake russian news on Z, sorry, X.
The rat nazi first used the nuke threat in 2014 when his vermin entered Crimea. At the same time, he was denying that he was involved; claiming “some local people bought military kit from a shop.”
Another threat came in Feb 2022 and has been repeated ad nauseam by scum like Medvedev, Solovyov, Simonyan, Scabby, Lavrov, Dugin etc ever since.
There is a good chance that if there had been a president McCain or Romney in 2014, U.S. troops would have poured into Ukraine from their bases in Germany and no more threats would have materialized.
Quite frankly, I don’t give a rat’s ass about any threats from mafia land. I wish our inglorious leaders would too.
I watched a video from Kyiv where the interviewer was asking residents what they thought of putler’s threats. Every man and woman said he can shove his nukes up his ass. Most said his threats have no effect whotsoever on them, unlike certain politicians living well out of the way.
It’s amazing to see the courage of the average guy and gal in Ukraine, compared to the deep-seated cowardice in Berlin, Washington, and elsewhere far away from the war.