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White House has termed Russian President Vladimir Putin's
decision to put Russia's nuclear deterrence forces on high alert, is part of a
wider pattern of unprovoked escalation and “manufactured threats” from the
Kremlin.
"This is really a pattern that we've seen from
President Putin through the course of this conflict, which is manufacturing
threats that don't exist in order to justify further aggression -- and the
global community and the American people should look at it through that
prism," press secretary Jen Psaki Psaki told ABC's George Stephanopoulos.
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pain of Russian banks’ SWIFT ban over Ukraine could dampen Putin’s strategic
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CNN quoted a senior administration official saying Sunday
that Putin's move was "yet another escalatory and totally unnecessary step."
"At every step of this conflict Putin has manufactured
threats to justify more aggressive actions -- he was never under threat fromUkraine or from NATO, which is a defensive alliance that will not fight in
Ukraine," the official said.
Ukraine’s stiff resistance
"The only reason his forces face a threat today is
because they invaded a sovereign country, and one without nuclear weapons. This
is yet another escalatory and totally unnecessary step," the White House said.
Putin's threat came after Ukraine’s stiff resistance to Moscow's
assault on Ukraine, now in its fourth day.
"Top officials in leading NATO countries have allowed
themselves to make aggressive comments about our country, therefore I hereby
order the Minister of Defense and the chief of the General Staff to place the
Russian Army Deterrence Force on combat alert," Putin said in a televised
meeting with top Russian defense officials.
Putin also said the Western sanctions placed on Russia were
unlawful.
CBS News said US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda
Thomas-Greenfield cast Putin's actions as unnecessarily escalatory, and that he
"is continuing to escalate this war in a manner that is totally
unacceptable."
Holding Putin accountable
"We have to continue to condemn his actions in ... the
strongest possible way," she said. "Putin has tried every means
possible to actually put fear in the world in terms of his action, and it just
means that we have to ramp up our efforts here at the United Nations and
elsewhere to hold him accountable."
CNN’s Dan Bash reported that Ukrainian Ambassador to the US
Oksana Markarova cast Putin's move as "one more example of the terrorist
behavior of Russia." Bash said on Sunday’s "State of the Union"
that Russian forces "attacked our country, they are scaring
everyone."
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called Putin's
allegations against NATO "dangerous rhetoric," adding that "this
is a behavior which is irresponsible," according to the CNN database.
"The new statements from President Putin just added to
the very aggressive rhetoric we have seen from Russia for many months, and
especially the last couple of weeks, where they are not only threatening
Ukraine, but also threatening NATO allied countries," he told Bash earlier
on the same program.
Source: CNN.Com
Picture courtesy: nbcnews.com