Russian President puts troops on war footing Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin

VLADIMIR Putin has ordered surprise checks of troops in the far east of Russia and for government agencies to test their preparedness in case of war, keeping pressure on Kiev and the west as the EU prepares to move forward with new sanctions against Russia. “Consistent with (Putin’s) orders, eastern military district troops, as well as formations and military units stationed on its territory will be put on full combat alert at 10am Moscow time today,” Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defence minister told a meeting with Russia’s military leaders.

Shoigu said Putin had ordered surprise inspections of Russia’s trade, transport and communications ministries and other major state organs to test their “readiness to perform their duties in wartime”.

The defence minister said the inspection would last until September 18.
Yesterday EU diplomats said they had reached an agreement on new sanctions against Moscow, including measures against three major Russian energy groups which would significantly limit their access to western financial markets.

While Kiev and pro-Russia separatists agreed to a ceasefire last week, the peace so far has been tenuous at best. Since the agreement, intermittent shelling has continued in east Ukraine on a close to daily basis. While the artillery fighting appears to be less heavy and widespread than it was before the conflict, there has been at least one civilian death. On Thursday, residents of Donetsk reported hearing periodic shooting, Interfax reported.

Nato on Thursday said Russia still had 1,000 troops in eastern Ukraine but this was down from the several thousand that were reported to have helped the rebels in the east of the country seize several towns on the Azov coast, near the city of Mariupol last month.

Petro Poroshenko, Ukrainian president, raised hopes on Wednesday that the military conflict might be coming to an end when he said Russia had removed the majority of the forces it had deployed in his country.

Putin has ordered several military drills throughout the conflict, some of which have taken place right next to the Russian-Ukrainian border. This week, the Russian president ordered the government to come up with a new defence programme through 2030, warning that Russia faced an increasingly aggressive Nato. Mr Putin said the main priority under the new plan would be bolstering Russia’s nuclear defences.

Officials from the Obama administration are in Moscow this week to discuss alleged violations by Russia of a 1987 arms control treaty. In July the US alleged that Russia had secretly been testing ground-launch cruise missiles, a violation of the treaty’s charter. Moscow, in turn, has aired counter allegations against Washington, alleging that the US has itself conducted anti-missile tests that violate the agreement, known as the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty. The US denies this is the case. — Financial Times.

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