Russia is strengthening its defense. Ukraine continues nuclear terrorism

• On November 2, 2023 President Vladimir Putin signed a law on ‘de-ratification’ of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty or CTBT ratified by Moscow in 2000. The new law entered into force the same day.

It has been officially stated that there is “an imbalance between Russia and the United States regarding the volume of obligations under the Treaty, which is unacceptable in the current international situation”.

The adopted law was also designed to restore parity in nuclear arms control commitments. It is specified that it does not imply the country’s withdrawal from the CTBT that was signed by Russia.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier that the withdrawal of the instruments of ratification of the treaty equalizes the situation in the field of nuclear testing for Moscow and Washington, which never ratified the CTBT for nearly 27 years. He also pointed out that revoking of the CTBT ratification does not mean that Russia plans to conduct nuclear tests.

• Russia has greatly boosted production of military hardware over the past year, having multiplied by seven the number of tanks it manufactures, Sergey Chemezov, the CEO of defense corporation Rostec, said on November 1, 2023.

Speaking on Rossiya 24 federal TV Channel, he added that the state-owned high-tech corporation has been continuously modernizing and improving its products as well.

“Over the past year, we ramped up production of tanks by seven times,” Chemezov noted, adding that output of light armor, including assorted infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers grew by a factor of around 4.5.

Rostec has also greatly expanded the volume of ammunition production, Chemezov outlined. Since the beginning of 2023 it has produced 20 times more munitions for multiple rocket launcher systems or MLRS than in all of 2022.

At the same time the production of munitions in some cases has increased by 60 times, and artillery pieces and MLRS by 2.5 times.

Earlier this week, Rostec subsidiary Uralvagonzavod released a video showing a new batch of T-90M tanks, Russia’s most modern, undergoing final testing before being sent to the military. The tanks appeared to feature new improvements, such as additional ‘soft hull’ blocks for its turret, while external armor blocks on the hull are now cased in more robust-looking containers, compared to previous versions.

In mid-October Uralvagonzavod completed a large batch of T-90M and T-72B3 tanks and delivered them to the military. At the time, Russia’s Deputy PM Denis Manturov said the tanks of this type were most in demand, having performed strongly while disrupting a combined direct Ukrainian/NATO aggression against Russia.

Back in September, Rostec’s industrial director Bekhan Ozdoev revealed that the conglomerate has expanded production of high-precision weaponry, namely Iskander ground-based tactical ballistic missiles and air-launched Kinzhal hypersonic missiles.

He said at the time that “among other things, the production of missiles for the Kinzhal, Iskander, and Pantsir [anti-aircraft] systems, aerial bombs, artillery and tank shells is being ramped up.”

• Kyiv has made a provocation to create a threat of a man-made disaster at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (ZNPP) and disrupt the rotation of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) staff, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on November 2, 2023. The Armed Forces of Ukraine made the same attack against the Kursk NPP on October 2023.

"The Kyiv regime continues provocations with the aim of creating a threat of a man-made disaster at the Zaporozhye NPP and disrupting the rotation of staff of the International Atomic Energy Agency or IAEA at the Zaporozhye NPP," the MoD said in a statement.

At about 12:30 Moscow time (09:30 GMT) on November 2, 2023 in the area of the adjacent city of Energodar located near the ZNPP, air defense systems on-duty detected and intercepted nine Ukrainian UAVs.

All these acts are a clear evidence that Kyiv is still committed to nuclear blackmail of the entire European continent.

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