Daily News Dose: Putin puts nuclear forces on high alert | Feb 28, 2022

Hello listener, this is your daily dose of news from Onmanorama. I'm your host, Susan Joe Philip. These are the major news stories of the day

1 Vladimir Putin puts nuclear forces on high alert after 'aggressive statements' by NATO powers 

2. Ukraine-Russia talks likely on Belarus border today

3. Kochi CPM state conference to chart a path for 'New Kerala'

4. PM Modi chairs high-level meeting on Ukraine and Ministers will oversee  the evacuations

5 Ruble sinks 26% after SWIFT sanctions against Russian banks, Rupee crashes 40 paise

Let’s get into the details.

In a dramatic escalation of East-West tensions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian nuclear forces put on high alert in response to what he called "aggressive statements" by leading NATO powers. Sunday's directive to put Russia's nuclear weapons in an increased state of readiness for launch raised fears that the crisis could boil over into nuclear warfare, whether by design or mistake.

Putin, in giving the nuclear alert directive, cited not only statements by NATO members who have rushed to reinforce the military alliance's members in Eastern Europe but the hard-hitting financial sanctions imposed by the West against Russia, including Putin himself.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has reportedly agreed to hold talks with Russia at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border on Monday after Vladimir Putin ordered to put nuclear forces on high alert. On Friday, Zelenskyy had offered to negotiate the key Russian demand of abandoning ambitions of joining NATO. But Zelenskyy had said his country was ready for peace talks but not in Belarus. According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, a Russian delegation of military officials and diplomats had arrived Sunday in the Belarusian city of Gomel for talks with Ukraine.

Zelenskyy had suggested Warsaw, Bratislava, Budapest, Istanbul and Baku. “We will accept any other city in a country that hasn't been used for launching missiles," Zelenskyy had said. "Only then the talks could be honest and put an end to the war.”

The 23rd CPI(M) State Conference in Kochi from March 1 to 4 will be unique as it would discuss the development of the new-age Kerala along with the party's organisational matters, the party secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said. The policy document on 'Nava Keralam' will be presented by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at 4 pm on Tuesday. Thereafter at 5.30 pm, the floor will be open for discussions. The new development agenda of the State would be finalised after holding discussions with people from various walks of life, Kodiyeri stated.

Kodiyeri would present the political organisational report during the conference, said Mohanan, Ernakulam district secretary and convenor of the reception committee.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday chaired a high-level meeting to review the ongoing evacuations of Indians stranded in war torn Ukraine. The sources in the government said that it was decided that the Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju and General V.K. Singh will be travelling to the neighbouring countries of Ukraine to coordinate the evacuation mission and help the Indians including students.

The Ministers will go to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania to oversee the evacuation process via these countries.

The ruble sank nearly 26% against the U.S. dollar early Monday after Western nations moved to block Russian banks from the SWIFT global payment system. The ruble was trading at a record low 105.27 per dollar, down from about $84 per dollar late Friday. Over the weekend, Japan joined the moves by the U.S. and other western nations to impose more sanctions against Russia.

Restrictions on the Russian central bank target its access to more than $600 billion in reserves the Kremlin has at its disposal. They hinder Russia's ability to support the ruble as it plunges in value.

Sanctions announced earlier had taken the Russian currency to its lowest level against the dollar in history. 

Now, let’s check out the covid update

The single-day rise in coronavirus infections fell below 10,000 after two months, with 8,013 cases taking India's total tally to 4,29,24,130, while active cases have declined to 1,02,601, according to Union health ministry data updated on Monday. On December 28 last year, 9,195 people were infected in a day.

The death toll has climbed to 5,13,843 with 119 daily fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

That brings us to the end of this episode! Be sure to come back tomorrow. As always, thanks for listening to Daily News Dose.