His pitch that the West is conspiring against Russia has been a recurring theme in Putin’s efforts to play down anti-war discontent.
“There will be Muscovites, Uralians and others,” he said of Russia’s splintering into regional groups. Russia, the so-called “family of civilized peoples,” could only be partially accepted by the West, breaking the country into separate fragments, he theorized.
Putin also said last week that Russia had suspended participation in the New START nuclear treaty with other NATO countries, not just America’s nuclear capabilities. He said Russia could not accept US inspections of its nuclear sites while Washington and NATO allies looked forward to Russia’s defeat in Ukraine. But he reiterated that Moscow was not withdrawing from the deal, and his foreign ministry said Moscow would respect treaty limits on nuclear weapons and continue to notify the United States of test launches of ballistic missiles.
The lack of reports of drone strikes in Ukraine since mid-February suggests the Russians have run out of Iranian-made weapons, although they will order more, the British Ministry of Defense said in an update.
The drones were initially effective at damaging civilian infrastructure, but Ukrainians have become more adept at shooting them down, including at least 24 between late January and early February, the ministry said.
