Russian President, Vladimir Putin is expected to chair a meeting of Russia’s security council on Wednesday, September 25, 2024, on nuclear deterrence.
This comes as Moscow weighs how to respond to Ukraine’s requests to western countries to allow it to strike deep into Russia with long-range western missiles.
Kremlin Spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov described the meeting as an important event.
“There will be a speech by the President. The rest, for obvious reasons, will be marked ‘top secret’,” Peskov told reporters.
Russia has said it is in the process of revising its nuclear doctrine which sets out the circumstances in which it might resort to the use of nuclear weapons.
On Monday, the head of Russia’s nuclear test site, Andrei Sinitsyn, said in an interview that Moscow will not test a nuclear weapon as long as the US refrains from testing.
The ongoing Ukraine war has triggered the gravest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis – which is considered to be the time when the two Cold War superpowers came closest to intentional nuclear war.
Putin, the primary decision maker on Russia’s vast nuclear arsenal, is considering how to respond if the United States and its European allies allow Ukraine to use Western-supplied missiles to strike deep into Russia.
Putin said on September 12, 2024, that the West would be directly fighting with Russia if it gave such permission to Ukraine – and that Russia would be forced to make “appropriate decisions.”
Additionally, Kremlin Spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov said that Russia strongly rejects accusations of alleged violations of the UN Charter.
“We do not agree with such an attitude. We have repeatedly said so. Russia acts in strict compliance with all principles and norms of international law, including situations in which it protects its legitimate interests.”
Dmitry Peskov
Peskov added, “Of course, Russia is categorically opposed to double standards in the interpretation of international law.”
“Both Britain and the United States are notorious for this,” he stated.
Russia Approves Bill To Ban Adoption Of Russian Children In Countries Where Gender Reassignment Is Legal
Also on Wednesday, Russia’s parliament voted in favour of a bill to ban the adoption of Russian children in countries where gender reassignment is legal.
The adoption legislation, which had already been conceptually approved by the government, on Wednesday won the backing of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, in the first of three readings
Lawmakers voted almost unanimously to back the proposed law in a first reading, with 397 in favour and one against.
The Russian parliament said that its initial backing to legislation that would ban nationals from countries that allow people to change their gender from adopting Russian children, is a move that is essential to uphold traditional values.
“With this law we are protecting the child, we are doing everything for the child not to end up in a country where same-sex marriage and sex change is allowed,” Duma Speaker, Vyacheslav Volodin said.
This decision is aimed at protecting childhood and traditional values,” he iterated.
Volodin added, “It is necessary to protect our children from the dangers they may face when they are adopted or fostered by citizens of foreign countries where gender reassignment is allowed.”
Russia itself last year introduced a ban on people legally or medically changing their gender, part of a widening crackdown on LGBT rights.
The law’s authors cast it as a measure aimed at protecting adopted Russian children from what they describe as potentially dangerous conditions in countries that belong to the NATO military alliance, which backs Ukraine in the war against Russia.
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