Putin escalates nuclear threats: which countries should be concerned
31 October 2024 14:17
EXCLUSIVE
Vladimir Putin has announced a “training exercise” for Russia’s strategic forces, which will include practical nuclear missile launches. According to him, the purpose of the exercise is to practice the actions of officials in the context of managing the use of nuclear weapons.
Russian media reported this with reference to Putin.
“We will practice the actions of officials in controlling the use of nuclear weapons with practical launches of ballistic and cruise missiles,”
– the Kremlin dictator said.
Putin emphasized that the process of improving the country’s nuclear forces will continue, and that the strategic missile forces are switching to new systems of both fixed and mobile basing, which will provide higher accuracy.
An important signal to the US and Europe: what has changed
Former SBU officer and military analyst Ivan Stupak in an exclusive commentary
Stupak noted that such actions are an attempt to intimidate countries that support Ukraine, including threats that “radioactive ash” could reach London and missiles could reach Washington. The military expert emphasized that Russia believes that victory over Ukraine is possible only in the absence of assistance from Western allies.
He also points out that the use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine is not advisable, as the main goal is to intimidate Western countries.
“The Russian leadership is playing on the fears of Western society, trying to create an atmosphere of threat, which, in their opinion, could affect the political situation in countries that support Ukraine,”
– emphasizes Stupak.
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The purpose of Putin’s nuclear tests and their main threat
The former SBU official says that Putin’s threat rhetoric remains unchanged, but the effectiveness of such statements is decreasing. The expert also noted that Russia may move on to actual nuclear weapons tests, as “mentioning nuclear weapons is no longer interesting, no one is falling for it.”
He believes that Russia’s first nuclear test in the 21st century will be an important signal to the West.
“The Russians are working to make the first nuclear test in this century. We do not know what the scale will be. The last surface tests were in the 60s of the last century, and underground tests were in the early 90s. I do not exclude that such a moment can really happen. And all these videos of explosions in good quality will be spread all over the Internet. I think the Russians will be able to blow up something small, not Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but something three times smaller, but it will still be all over the news,”
– the expert says.
Mr. Stupak also believes that the West’s response to possible tests will be weak. He is confident that the only reliable option in the confrontation is to strengthen the Ukrainian army and produce long-range missiles.
“Nuclear weapons are overrated,”
– he added, pointing out that the situation has changed since the Cold War, when nuclear weapons were a real threat. Stupak also said that Russia could conduct nuclear tests on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago near Finland.
So threats to use nuclear weapons no longer resonate as much as they used to. Russia is still trying to find new ways to demonstrate its power, but experts believe that these strategies are unlikely to work internationally.
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Author: Darina Glushchenko
