Putin pressured to respond as West crosses red lines
The Kremlin is aware of an "overflow of nuclear threats" – reports the Washington Post. However, Putin must somehow "respond in some way and stop his red lines from being constantly crossed." Moscow should take more serious and significant steps to show the seriousness of its intentions, says a Russian scientist with close ties to high-ranking diplomats.
As reported by the Washington Post, citing Russian sources, the Kremlin is increasingly aware that the repeated threats of Russia using nuclear weapons are losing their effectiveness. "There has been an overflow of nuclear threats," said a Russian official. "There is already immunity to such statements, and they don’t frighten anyone," he added.
A Russian scientist with close ties to high-ranking Russian diplomats confirmed these reports, calling the nuclear option "the least possible" scenario. This is "because it really would lead to dissatisfaction among Russia’s partners in the Global South and also because clearly, from a military point of view, it is not very effective."
"All this discussion of the nuclear threshold overexaggerates the threat of such a type of escalation and underestimates the possibility of alternative options. Since the West has a global military infrastructure … a lot of vulnerable points can be found," added the scientist.
Putin under pressure
Tatiana Stanovaya, founder of the French consulting firm R-Politik, said that "Putin is searching through a range of options to deter Western support for Ukraine and try to enforce his red lines". "There are options he doesn’t want to deploy, and there are options he is ready to review today," she added, emphasizing that Putin considers nuclear weapons as "the worst option for everyone including for himself."
As the American newspaper writes, "Putin feels there is a threat to the existence of Russia in its current form, when he considers there is no other way out." "There is an understanding that the West ignores the red lines drawn by Moscow and that it should take more serious and significant steps to show the seriousness of its intentions," said the scientist to the newspaper.
Russia still resorts to the argument of the "most powerful weapon"
Many of the information provided by Russian media or government representatives is propaganda. Such reports are part of the Russian Federation's information war.
"Russia will give a tough response using more powerful weapons. No one should have any illusions about this. The State Duma insists on this," said the chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin. Previously, the United States confirmed that talks on this topic are ongoing.
"By asking the United States, Germany, France, and England to supply long-range weapons, missiles, and other equipment, and discussing with them the issue of attacking the territory of Russia, Zelensky makes these countries direct participants in the military conflict in Ukraine," said Volodin.
