According to two US sources who spoke to CBS News, senior Russian military figures discussed how and when they may use nuclear weapons on the Ukrainian battlefield last month.
Increasingly concerned
They informed the US partner of the BBC that Vladimir Putin was not present for the discussions.
The White House declared that over the past few months, it had become “increasingly concerned” about the potential use of nuclear weapons.
The US, it was emphasised, found no indication that Russia was getting ready for such use.
This is consistent with past conclusions by Western intelligence agencies that Moscow has not been relocating its nuclear weapons.
Although the timing of the high-level Russian military conversations in mid-October is important, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused the West of “deliberately puffing up the matter.”
By the end of September, President Putin had intensified his rhetoric against the West and the use of nuclear weapons, promising to use all available means to defend both Russia and the territories he had taken from Ukraine.
Dirty bomb
He declared, “This is not a bluff,” accusing the West of adopting nuclear blackmail while bragging about Russian arsenals that were more advanced than anything in Nato’s arsenal.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby responded to accusations in US media that Russia had contemplated using nuclear weapons by saying, “We have grown increasingly concerned about the prospect as these months have gone on.”
Russia’s military successes have declined, but its nuclear threats seem to have grown.
Moscow has claimed that Ukraine is building a “dirty bomb” that is packed with radioactive material, but Ukraine and the West claim that Russia is only trying to invent an excuse to hold Kyiv responsible in the event that such a weapon is utilised.
Russian strategy
Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defence minister, made it a point to get in touch with his counterparts in the US, Turkey, and France to discuss the purported Ukrainian plot. However, the Slovenian government soon pointed out that the images had been taken from its Radioactive Waste Management Agency and showed smoke detectors from 2010. This was in response to images that the Russian defence ministry had used to demonstrate its conclusions.
Russia’s nuclear strategy has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks regarding the scenarios in which it would deploy nuclear weapons, particularly a “tactical” bomb that could be used on the Ukrainian battlefield.
Nuclear weapon
Unlike the larger “strategic” bombs that are intended to wreak havoc, a nuclear weapon used tactically is for use in conflict.
Last week, Russia conducted standard nuclear drills in a scenario where it was responding to a nuclear attack from an adversary with a more powerful strategic weapon. Mr Putin insisted that only the defensive use of nuclear weapons was permitted under Russian nuclear doctrine.
However, Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy president of the Russian security council, highlighted another aspect of Russia’s doctrine on Tuesday: the use of nuclear weapons in the event that the state faces an existential threat. He emphasised that Ukraine’s military objectives included reclaiming all the former Ukrainian territories, which posed an existential threat in and of itself.
Even though Mr Medvedev may not always have the president’s ear, his remarks do reflect Mr Putin’s view that large portions of southern and eastern Ukraine have become Russian territory as a result of Russia’s formal annexation of those regions, even though that view is not shared by the rest of the world.
Grave consequences
Additionally, the Russian foreign ministry reaffirmed that Moscow had the right to deploy nuclear weapons in response to “a conventional weapon-based aggression when the fundamental survival of the state is in danger” in a statement on Wednesday.
If Russia used a tactical nuclear bomb on the Ukrainian battlefield, there would be “grave consequences,” according to UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace. He promised the MPs he wouldn’t guess what they might be.
The head of the SVR foreign intelligence service, Sergei Naryshkin, responded to a question from the BBC last week asking him to categorically deny that Russia would use nuclear weapons in Ukraine by saying that he was very concerned about the rhetoric coming from the West and that Ukraine’s leadership was attempting to acquire nuclear weapons.
Did you subscribe to our newsletter?
It’s free! Click here to subscribe!
Source: BBC
