Putin: Russia Prepared Raising Nuclear Readiness Over Crimea

[Purveyor]

Source: Associated Press

Mar 15, 11:47 AM (ET)

By JIM HEINTZ

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia was ready to bring its nuclear weapons into a state of alert during last year's tensions over the Crimean Peninsula and the overthrow of Ukraine's president, President Vladimir Putin said in remarks aired on Sunday.

Putin also expanded on a previous admission that the well-armed forces in unmarked uniforms who took control of Ukrainian military facilities in Crimea were Russian soldiers.

Putin's comments, in a documentary being shown on state TV, highlight the extent to which alarm spread in Russia in the weeks following Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's ouster in February 2014 after months of street protests that turned increasingly violent.

After Yanukovych fled Kiev, eventually surfacing in Russia, separatist sentiment soared in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula dominated by ethnic Russians.

Read more: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150315/eu-russia-crimea-2859701388.html

[still_one]

1. So did Putin come out of hiding?

[amandabeech]

5. Not clear.

The story refers to a documentary, which could have been filmed before P's disappearance.

I won't be convinced that he's around until he's shown holding today's Pravda.

[geek tragedy]

2. He's nuts. Nuclear alert over Yanukovych fleeing Ukraine.

The Russian bear is not only feral, but semi-rabid.

[uhnope]

3. a mentally deranged little Napolean wannabe with nukes

spreading hate and violence in the world.

[hrmjustin]

4. Clearly Putin is evil.

[Agnosticsherbet]

6. Clearly, Putin ain't puttin' on the Ritz by calling out the Nukes.

Just another war mongering, KGB Assassin with delusions of grandeur.

[Jon82]

7. Seems so true

It seems so true that all Putin cares about is creating conflict in order to rebuild some of what was given up during his past. He is corrupt, ruthless, and is going to cause another conflict, if not more.

[Bosonic]

8. Tangentially (and random-ish)

This may be newsworthy, IDK, but something is ablaze in central Moscow...

http://www.earthcam.com/world/russia/moscow/?cam=moscow_hd

[CJCRANE]

10. Interesting! nt

[Purveyor]

15. Fire Hits Bell Tower At Famed Moscow Convent

MOSCOW (AP) -- A fire has broken out in the bell tower of Moscow's Novodevichy Convent, one of the Russian capital's most noted visitor attractions.

Russian news reports said the blaze broke out late Sunday in wooden scaffolding surrounding the tower as it undergoes restoration. The Interfax news agency quoted Alexander Gavrilov, the deputy head of the emergencies ministry for Moscow, as saying the tower itself didn't suffer significant damage and the fire's spread had been halted around midnight.

The octagonal tower, more than 70 meters tall, dates from the late 1600s.

The convent, which sits above an oxbow turn in the Moscow River, is noted both for its buildings and its cemetery, where many of Russia's most celebrated figures are buried, including Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and Russia's first president, Boris Yeltsin.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_RUSSIA_CONVENT_FIRE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-03-15-17-43-44

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

9. I say fuck him! And the horse this jackass rode in on!!

Nuclear deterrence still rules. I say fuck 'em.

[PersonNumber503602]

16. *bear he rode in on.

[allan01]

11. hem

are you sure you want to wipe out half of the worlds population and make the rest of it uninhabitable because of an ileageal act you did mr putin ?

[daleo]

12. All options are on the table.

U.S. presidents have made that claim routinely, in the course of the past few decades. It is hardly a surprise that Russia might do so as well.

[AverageJoe90]

13. Something tells me, that Putin is just calling our bluff.....

.....because he knows his attempt at rebuilding the Russian Empire of old is already starting to falter.

[7962]

14. So he's finally admitting he lied the whole time about His troops.

Maybe the DU Putin fan club will come out of the shadows and acknowledge that they were wrong all along