Putin's rushed illegal annexation of Ukraine territory

 ISW:

Russian President Vladimir Putin did not threaten an immediate nuclear attack to halt the Ukrainian counteroffensives into Russian-occupied Ukraine during his speech announcing Russia’s illegal annexation of Ukrainian territory. ISW analysts broke down Putin’s speech in a separate September 30 Special Report: “Assessing Putin’s Implicit Nuclear Threats after Annexation.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the illegal Russian annexation of four Ukrainian territories on September 30 without clearly defining the borders of those claimed territories. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to specify the borders of the newly annexed territories in a September 30 conversation with reporters: "[the] Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics [DNR and LNR] were recognized by Russia within the borders of 2014. As for the territories of Kherson and Zaporizhia oblasts, I need to clarify this. We will clarify everything today.”[1] DNR head Denis Pushilin added that even the federal district into which the annexed territories will be incorporated remains unclear: “What will it be called, what are the borders—let's wait for the final decisions, consultations are now being held on how to do it right.”[2] Russian officials may clarify those boundaries and administrative allocations in the coming days but face an inherent problem: Ukrainian forces still control large swathes of Donetsk and Zaporizhia and some areas of Luhansk and Kherson oblasts, a military reality that is unlikely to change in the coming months.

Putin likely rushed the annexation of these territories before making even basic administrative decisions on boundaries and governance. Russian officials have therefore not set clear policies or conditions for proper administration. Organizing governance for these four forcibly annexed oblasts would be bureaucratically challenging for any state after Russian forces systematically killed, arrested, or drove out the Ukrainian officials who previously ran the regional administrations. But the bureaucratic incompetence demonstrated by the Kremlin’s attempted partial mobilization of Russian men suggests that Russian bureaucrats will similarly struggle to establish governance structures over a resistant and unwilling population in the warzone that is Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory.
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I suspect this is mostly about getting Russian men to fight in his war in Ukraine as the mobilization appears as effective as herding turtles at this point.  There is great resistance to the mobilization inside Russia and it is not causing a rush of patriotism within the country at this point.  

What would Putin gain from a tactical nuclear attack on land he wants to be part of Russia?  It would be like the sheriff in Blazing Saddles pointing a gun at his own head and threatening to shoot if the mob did not obey him. 

See, also:

SPECIAL REPORT: ASSESSING PUTIN’S IMPLICIT NUCLEAR THREATS AFTER ANNEXATION

And:

 Ukraine says its forces 'encircle' Russian troops in Donetsk

Ukrainian forces push forward in Donetsk as Putin makes a land grab

And:

 Analysis: Russia's war in Ukraine reaches a critical moment

And:

 Mass grave site with 1,100 bodies found in burn pits outside liberated Izyum

And:

 Putin says U.S. created nuclear PRECEDENT by bombing Japan and vows to 'smash' the 'satanic' West: Rants that America is STILL occupying Germany, 'Anglo-Saxons' blew up Nord Stream and warns he'll use 'all forces' to defend annexed Ukraine regions