“Putin can play the “golden card”. The Kremlin is looking for ways to replace the nuclear threats that no longer frighten the West — WP September 23, 08:35 Share: Putin is still thinking about how to replace the nuclear threats to NATO countries (Photo: REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov) The Kremlin is increasingly aware that the West does not succumb to the nuclear threats of the dictator Vladimir Putin, so he is looking for new ways to strengthen his “red lines”. The American writes about it”, — write on: ua.news
Putin is still thinking about how to replace nuclear threats to NATO countries (Photo: REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov)
The Kremlin is increasingly aware that the West is not amenable to dictator Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats, so it is looking for new ways to strengthen its “red lines.”
The American publication The Washington Post writes about it.
The authors of the publication recall that when Putin warned that the West’s approval of Ukraine’s strikes with high-precision Western weapons on Russian territory would mean that NATO countries were directly involved in the war, Russian propagandists “rattled nuclear weapons.”
“But there is a growing understanding within the Kremlin that the repeated use of the nuclear threat is beginning to lose its power, and Moscow’s red lines are constantly being crossed,” the authors of the article write.
According to analysts and officials close to senior Russian diplomats, Putin is seeking a more nuanced and limited response to the West’s permission for Ukraine to use longer-range missiles to strike Russia.
One of the interlocutors of The Washington Post, who wished to remain anonymous, noted that immunity to nuclear threats has already developed, “and they do not scare anyone.”
At the same time, another interlocutor of the publication, a Russian academician who also has connections with Russian diplomats, called the nuclear scenario “the least possible.”
In turn, the founder of the French political consulting agency R-Politik, Tetiana Stanova, claims that there are options that Putin does not want to use, and there are options that he is ready to consider today.
In her opinion, nuclear measures or an attack on NATO territory will be considered only if “Putin will feel a threat to the existence of Russia in its current form, when he believes that there is no other way out.”
However, the dictator is still under pressure, which requires him to react and stop constantly crossing red lines
In addition, Putin sees a trend in which Western allies continue to allow Ukraine to expand, which Stanova said scares him, especially if that trend leads to increased missile strikes on Russian territory.
It is noted that Moscow can respond with sabotage operations against military targets or other infrastructure in the West, where the participation of the Russian Federation would be difficult to prove. However, “he does not want the situation to develop into something dramatic or radical.”
At the same time, political scientist Serhii Markov, who is connected to the Kremlin, said that there is a growing understanding in the higher echelons of power that the Russian Federation talked a lot about red lines, but did nothing.
“At some point we will have to escalate,” Markov said, adding that Russia is confident that Moscow will be struck at some point, so it needs to strike first.
The interlocutors of the publication also pointed out that members of the campaign of the US presidential candidate from the Republican Party, Donald Trump, made Moscow’s threats one of the main issues of his election campaign.
According to Markov, Putin may try to increase the threat and play “golden card”, exacerbating the situation before the US presidential elections. So “The US will fear a nuclear war, and Trump will win.”
However, at the moment, Putin is still thinking about what to replace his strategy with, and no one understands what answers he will choose for each action.
On September 11, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken visited Kyiv, who did not announce permission to strike ATACMS deep into Russia, but said that the issue was discussed and he would take what he heard to Washington.
The Guardian, citing British sources, reported on September 14 that the US and Britain have decided to allow Ukraine to use long-range missiles for strikes on Russian territory, but are not yet ready to announce this publicly.