I report below on a significant expansion in the size of Russian military (which anti-Russian critics like Ben Aris forecast will occasion riots). Putin is making a show of pulling off at least one of the gloves of restraint, but is he really? Nuclear TriadPerhaps among the most important of all these provocations were the NATO-supported attacks on Russia’s nuclear triad. Operating via local mobile networks, the remote strikes damaged or destroyed dozens of aircraft, targeting the airborne leg of Russia’s nuclear delivery systems. Putin has now increased the army’s size six times since the start of the full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine.