Putin threat tests China’s nuclear umbrella pact with Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Moscow’s military to raise the alert status of its large nuclear forces on Sunday, and the threat will test a 2012 agreement that calls on China to provide a nuclear deterrent umbrella for Ukraine.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych signed the agreement on Dec. 5, 2012, promising that China’s nuclear forces would protect Ukraine from nuclear threats.

The bilateral treaty described the two states as “strategic partners.”