The Russian head of state, Vladimir Putin, once again used rhetoric that included a veiled threat to his regional geopolitical rivals, to whom he recommended “not to aggravate the situation, not to impose limitations” after the attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine, which burned for hours causing concern about a possible atomic disaster.

“I want to emphasize again, and we have always said, that we have no bad intentions in relation to our neighbours,” said the head of the Kremlin, who ordered a massive invasion of Ukraine eight days ago that has already left more than 2,000 civilian dead.

The statement came during communication with the governor of the enclave of Kaliningrad, Anton Alijanov, almost at the same time that the UN Human Rights Council approved the opening of an investigation for crimes against humanity in the invasion launched by the Kremlin.

Putin has no ears for those who ask him to end the massacre of civilians and withdraw his troops: he assured that Moscow will continue with its agenda and that “it fulfils and will continue to fulfil all its commitments.”

Regarding the critical economic situation in his country, whose market has been closed for five days due to international sanctions that threaten to paralyze the Russian economy, the former spy chief assured: “No matter how difficult and complex it may be, we will continue to develop without fail”, we will strengthen the transportation and logistics infrastructure throughout the country.”

Putin spoke today with his Belarusian counterpart, Alexandr Lukashenko, to whom he informed about the details of the invasion, which the Kremlin calls a “special military operation” and which began on February 24.

According to the Kremlin, his boss stressed in the conversation with Lukashenko that the campaign is progressing as planned and the planned objectives will be fully met.

The Russian president also took the opportunity to talk about the second round of talks between the negotiating groups of Russia and Ukraine held in Belarus, before which Lukashenko expressed his support for Russian military actions in the neighbouring country.