Nikolai Patrushev, an advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, accused the West on Sept. 27 of attempting to isolate Kaliningrad Oblast by disrupting transportation links between the exclave and mainland Russia.

An aide to President Vladimir Putin accused the West on Friday of trying to isolate Russia's European exclave of Kaliningrad as much as possible by restricting the supply of goods to it by road and rail.

President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Wednesday that Russia could use nuclear weapons if it was struck with conventional missiles, and that Moscow would consider any assault on it supported by a nuclear power to be a joint attack.

The Times notes that Putin’s remarks signal that any “Western support for a conventional attack of Russia by Ukraine should be considered a joint attack and could, under certain circumstances, merit a nuclear response.” Given this context, the message from Putin to the U.S. with his public policy proposal seems to be pretty simple: Don’t try it.

The threat, outlined in a revision of Moscow's nuclear doctrine, was clearly aimed at discouraging the West from allowing Ukraine to strike Russia with longer-range weapons and appears to significantly lower the threshold for the possible use of Russia's nuclear arsenal.

Vladimir Putin has issued a stark threat to Ukraine’s Nato allies, saying he would expand Russia’s nuclear doctrine to potentially cover attacks against his country using advanced western missiles. Speaking to his security council on Wednesday,