They have a collapsing population . This maybe about their survival as a nation . Now would be the perfect time for a land grab while western nations are in disarray internally . France and Germany will be very worried .
The truth is the Russians are in all kinds of trouble as a nation state and their way of life isn’t sustainable without expansion. It’s how the romans did it. The problem is they don’t have anything to offer anybody else. Their way of life is shit. They don’t bring peace, rule of law, economic opportunities. It’s just awful to be a Russian. But the only thing worse is to be under the gun of Russia. You’re damn straight France, German AND the UK have their eyes very wide right now because once Russia gets rolling and they keep those nukes in good condition Europe becomes a smorgasbord very quickly. We will see how far the Russians go though. If they go to Kyiv or further west then they will be directly in conflict with NATO. Putin did make a statement that there could be implications of Euro-wide conflict.
I think Putin has slowly slid into the trap of believing he is very powerful. The problem with the West, they are too polite, too forgiving, to lenient, too understanding, too gentlemanly, tolerant and correct, and countries like Russia and China read that as weakness.
The 2S7 is used with plenty of conventional munitions. They were used in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Georgia, Donbas '14, and Azerbaijan '20. Their presence alone isn't an indicator that Russia plans on using nuclear munitions.
Surprising no one, all of the sudden Russian troops are to stay in Belarus indefinitely with a build up of attack helicopters. EU et al now considering sanctions on Belarus…
For the same reason Putin is running nuclear weapons drills today, it’s a threat to all of us in the west. He’s posturing he’s willing to go kamakazi.
I think Belarus is increasing their standing army by conscription. Footage being blamed on Ukranians/Poles (Poland blame is an interesting development)....these idiots being called out for metadata showing footage from 2 wks ago as something that happened yesterday. Magical "long range mortars" hitting Russian fuel pumps and being blamed on Ukranians. It's complete amateur hour... Apparently the Russians aren't above using small nukes for utilitarian purposes beyond just MAD retaliation. That, or they don't believe Ukraine surrendered all its nukes (smart really).