The nuclear arsenal is in danger. Ankara offers assistance to Putin

The Czech Republic’s foreign minister, Jan Lipavsky, is banking on cynicism. “I see that my summer vacation in Crimea is approaching …”, is his message to President Vladimir put it in Accompanied by a beach emoji. An isolated provocation, because it is ahead of Yevgeny’s march towards Moscow Prigozhin The world stayed on its guard: “We’re watching,” is the more or less approved version circulating from the US, from Brussels to China. While Türkiye presents itself as a mediator for a “peaceful solution”.

Prigozhin and the coup – what happened? Putin’s failure, the hypothesis of the agreement with Wagner (and the risk of escalation in Ukraine)

nuclear gear

The truth is, according to intelligence sources reported by CNN, that Americans and Europeans were caught off guard by Wagner’s rebellion. If relations with the Russian military had been deteriorating for months, and in January, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby warned of growing tensions between the military leadership in Moscow and the mercenary group, warning of the danger of the latter. Adopting itself as a “rival power center of the Russian army”, and assessing “how much gossip it was and how true it was, was hard to fathom. Nervousness has been present for some time, but nothing happened. Now the West is following the developments with concern, while being careful not to interfere in any way so that Putin does not accuse him of being involved in the events, as indicated by a source close to the Biden administration. The main concern is Moscow’s nuclear arsenal: what will happen to it, and if it risks falling into the most unscrupulous hands of the Kremlin, if Wagner’s advance is not stopped 200 kilometers from the capital. Recent estimates by the Federation of American Scientists indicate that Russia has 5,977 warheads, a few hundred more than Washington’s (5,428), with about 1,500 deployed on long-range strategic systems, 3,000 “in reserve” and the rest in the process of being dismantled. A threat that unites Western countries. Yesterday, US leader Joe Biden met French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Schultz and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, reaffirming their “shared and unwavering support” for Ukraine. Biden reminded his allies that the situation in Russia is “real and dangerous,” and the fear that no head of state can express publicly is that figures more dangerous than Putin will take over his position in power, whom the US president described as a “murderous dictator.” Escalation of violence. Maximum alert is also within the European Union, which has activated the Emergency Response Coordination Center (Ercc), the focus of the EU’s civil protection mechanism. The High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, reported that he “consulted with the G7 foreign ministers in order to exchange views regarding the Foreign Affairs Council on Monday, and I am in the process of coordinating actions.” He added that “this is an internal matter for Russia” and that “support for Ukraine continues unabated.”

mediation

China avoids official comments and entrusts the account to China Daily: “The Russian armed forces have received orders to neutralize those who organized the armed rebellion of the private military group Wagner,” the paper writes. For Hu Xijin, a commentator for the nationalist tabloid Global Times, “Prigozhin’s revolution could force the Putin administration to face the most severe test since the start of the special military operation.” While on Weibo, Twitter in Mandarin, the mainstream reading is accusing the United States of maneuvering Wagner against the Russian president. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself offers a mediator through a phone call with Putin, worried about the stability of the union: “Turkey – declares – is ready to do its part for a peaceful solution as soon as possible.”

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