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Putin will chair his Security Council meeting tomorrow amid Western fears he could ‘go nuclear’ after Crimea bridge’s humiliation – as Russian governors threaten rocket attacks ‘in desire to retaliate’
- The Russian Security Council is made up of the country’s top defense officials
- Council meets intermittently to support Putin in policy decisions
- They met days before the invasion and before Putin annexed Ukrainian regions
- Monday’s meeting comes just days after the Crimean bridge was damaged
- Meeting has raised fears Putin could announce major escalation
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Russian President Vladimir Putin will chair a meeting with his Security Council on Monday, two days after a massive explosion ripped through Russia’s Crimean bridge, the Kremlin told local news agencies.
“Tomorrow the president has a scheduled meeting with the permanent members of the Security Council,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The Russian Security Council (SCRF) is made up of the country’s top defense officials and heads of security services, who come together to support Putin – the general chairman of the council – in making policy decisions.
Controversial Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu will attend, along with the head of Russia’s FSB domestic intelligence agency Aleksandr Bortnikov and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
SCRF meetings usually come in response to major geopolitical events related to national security, but can also indicate that Putin is about to make an important decision.
The Russian president chaired a meeting of the SCRF just days before the invasion of Ukraine, raising concerns that Monday’s meeting could signal an imminent escalation of the conflict.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will chair a meeting with his Security Council on Monday, two days after a massive explosion ripped through Russia’s Crimean bridge, the Kremlin told local news agencies.
Russian President Vladimir Putin presides over a Security Council meeting via video link in Moscow on September 29, 2022, just one day before formally annexing four regions of southeastern Ukraine
A view shows a fire on the Kerch Bridge in the Kerch Strait, Crimea, October 8, 2022, on this screen a selection from a video
Monday’s meeting comes as Putin propagandists and Russian regional governors called for all-out war in Ukraine in response to the Crimean Bridge explosion.
Leading Kremlin propagandist Vladimir Solovyov demanded a brutal Stalinist response to “plunge Ukraine into dark times” and rally all Russians against all-out war in the wake of the humiliating attack on the bridge.
Hinting at an enemy within, Solovyov called for a return of the infamous Stalin-era SMERSH counter-espionage to crush all internal opposition to a full-scale war against Ukraine.
SMERSH, whose motto was “Death to Spies,” was a conglomerate of counterintelligence forces used by Stalin to root out and wipe out those who tried to undermine his regime during and after World War II.
The deputy governor of the southern region of Stavropol in Russia, Valery Chernitsov, exclaimed: ‘Ukrainians, leave your cities, especially the big ones. Because a big surprise awaits you. Sarmat missiles are ready to strike,” a threatening video read on Twitter.
And the Russian-installed governor of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said there is a “healthy desire to retaliate” after the explosion that destroyed parts of the Kerch Bridge yesterday morning and killed three people.
Since the explosion of the bridge, rocket attacks have already landed on the southern Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhya, killing 17 people late last night and early this morning.