New Delhi, Feb 28 (IANS) Russian ground units, equipped with intercontinental ballistic missiles as well as vessels from the Northern and Pacific Fleets, have been placed on high combat alert, the Russian Defence Ministry confirmed on Monday.
The Russian Navy includes submarines armed with nuclear missiles, RT reported.
The ministry said the move was made in accordance with the order issued by President Vladimir Putin on Sunday, RT reported.
Putin cited "illegitimate sanctions" against Russia and "aggressive statements" by Western officials, without elaborating.
Many countries, including the US, the UK and EU member states, have imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in response to its military operation in Ukraine.
Earlier, Putin had placed the country's nuclear deterrent forces on "special" alert on Sunday, RT reported.
The move was announced during Putin's meeting with Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov.
"Western countries are not only taking unfriendly actions against our country in the economic area. I'm speaking about the illegitimate sanctions that everyone is well aware of. However, the top officials of the leading NATO countries also make aggressive statements against our country as well," Putin stated.
The move comes in response to 'hostile' rhetoric by top NATO officials, Putin said, RT reported.
Former Delhi University professor Syed Abdul Rahman Geelani, who was sentenced to death by a special court but later acquitted by the Supreme Court in the 2001 Parliament attack case, died here on Thursday following a cardiac arrest, his family said.
All pilgrims will have to register online (prakashpurb550.mha.gov.in) in advance and the applicant is required to register himself/herself in advance of proposed date of travel.
An Indian couple in Singapore are facing charges of trafficking for exploiting a group of Bangladeshi women employed at their night clubs, allegedly denying them monthly wages, confiscating their passports and forcing one of them into prostitution.
An Indian-origin dentist has been banned from practising dentistry for a year after one of his patients bled to death, hours after he had extracted her teeth in a procedure over two years ago.
A video clip of students of a college in Karnataka writing exams on Wednesday with cartons over their head has gone viral on social media drawing criticism and prompting the education minister to tweet that the incident will be 'dealt with aptly'.
Article 370 Kashmir: Like former US President Abraham Lincoln, PM Modi also took extraordinary steps like legal amendments to have legal authority and then installing a massive force
