Putin now relies on "pure fiction" when speaking to the world

Publicly telling a lie, against an overwhelming  mountain of evidence that proves that you are telling a lie, now seems to be the desperate strategy of Putin, his comrades, and his 'siloviki', in Putin's war with Ukraine. 

Sergei Naryshkin, director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, when asked about Putin always threatening to use a nuclear bomb in his war with Ukraine, responded in an interview with Steve Rosenberg (left) by saying that,

Steve Rosenberg : Sergei Yevgenyevich, about Russian rhetoric. Is there no Russian nuclear rhetoric?

Sergei Yevgenyevich :  No. No. Absolutely not. (BBC News : 2 November 2022) (my emphasis)

BBC News : 2 November 2022

Throughout his war with Ukraine, starting with his illegal invasion and annexation  of Ukraine's Crimea in 2014, his follown-on invasion of the Donbas, and his current war with Ukraine that started in February of 2022, Putin has never been shy to publicly threaten the use of a nuclear bomb against Ukraine.

As reported in 2015 by Laura Smith-Spark, Alla Eshchenko and Emma Burrows,

"Russia was ready to put its nuclear forces on alert over the crisis in Crimea last year, such was the threat to Russian people there, President Vladimir Putin said in a documentary that aired on state TV on Sunday night.

Asked if Russia was prepared to bring its nuclear weapons into play, Putin said: “We were ready to do it. I talked with colleagues and told them that this (Crimea) is our historic territory, Russian people live there, they are in danger, we cannot leave them.

“It wasn’t us who committed a coup, it was the nationalists and people with extreme beliefs.” (CNN : 16 March 2016) (my emphasis)

CNN : 16 March 2016

And now, seemingly in a  U-turn from his constant 'nuclear sabre-rattling', Bloomberg News reports Putin stating that,

“We don’t need a nuclear strike on Ukraine,” Putin said, claiming Russia had only dropped “hints” in response to US and European discussion of a possible atomic conflict. “There is no point, either military or political.” (Moneyweb : 28 October 2022) (my emphasis) (cf. also: Bloomberg News : 27 October 2022)

Yet, the Bloomberg News goes on to report that,

"In fact, Kremlin officials including former President Dmitry Medvedev have warned in recent weeks about the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine as Moscow’s faltering war enters its ninth month with its forces in retreat from territory that Putin annexed as “forever” part of Russia last month. (ibid Moneyweb)

Underscoring the threats of Medvedev and 'other' Kremlin officials, Paul Kirby (left) reports that,

"Senior Russian military leaders discussed last month how and when they might use nuclear weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine, two US officials have told CBS News." (BBC News :2 November 2022) (my emphasis)

Kirby goes on to report that,

" ... And in a statement on Wednesday (2 November 2022), the Russian foreign ministry reiterated that Moscow was entitled to use nuclear weapons in response to "an aggression with the use of conventional weapons when the very existence of the state is in jeopardy". (ibid Paul Kirby)

More disconcerting, however, Isabel van Brugen reports that,

" The State Inspectorate for Nuclear Regulation of Ukraine said this week that Russian forces are building an "unknown structure" by Europe's largest nuclear power plant.
...
Energoatom, Ukraine's nuclear energy operator, said in a statement last week that Russian forces have been carrying out unauthorized construction work at the nuclear power plant.

It also said that Russian forces occupying the area are blocking Ukrainian personnel from accessing the area." (Newsweek : 3 November 2022) (my emphasis)

On 27 October I wrote in my blog entry that,

"Putin, his Generals, and that dyed-in-the-wool Soviet Foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, are
now using Goebbels's tactic of constantly pushing the lie that Ukraine's president Zelensky is about to release a 'dirty nuclear bomb' on the people of Ukraine. (video: ITV News : 26 October 2022, Aljazeera : 25 October 2022, Sky News : 24 October 2022)

In view of the fact that Putin and his motley crew have been pushing the false claim that Ukraine is developing a dirty "nuclear bomb", and that Putin has recently stated that, “We don’t need a nuclear strike on Ukraine”, is Putin preparing a 'false-flag dirty bomb' at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear plant that he will subsequently blame on Ukraine?

And now, as reported by Rubryka,

"Russia's appeal to the Security Council to investigate US "military biological activity" in Ukraine was rejected by the United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs deputy and the US ambassador to the UN.

Radio Svoboda reports that US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield (left) told the Security Council that the accusation made by the russian foreign ministry on October 27 is "pure fiction without any evidence." " (Rubryka : 3 November 2022) (my emphasis) (cf. also: Jonathan Landay, Humeyra Pamuk and Simon Lewis : Reuters : 11 March 2022)

"Pure fiction" is all, it would seem, that Putin now relies on when speaking to the world.

Bloomberg News : 27 October 2022

 (to be continued)