Putin Says Threat of Nuclear War “Is Increasing”

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the threat of nuclear war “is increasing,” though he also noted that he views the weapons as a deterrent.

The United States and Western leaders have long been concerned about the possibility Putin could approve a tactical nuclear strike during Russia’s war in Ukraine, and while those fears have ebbed and flowed at times, those concerns have typically increased as Russian forces’ failures in the war continue to pile up.

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In a meeting at the Kremlin with Russia’s Human Rights Council on Wednesday, Putin said, “In terms of the threat of nuclear war, you are right: Such threat is increasing,” according to CNN.

“As for the idea that Russia wouldn’t use such weapons first under any circumstances, then it means we wouldn’t be able to be the second to use them either — because the possibility to do so in case of an attack on our territory would be very limited,” Putin added, “Nevertheless, we have a strategy. … Namely, as a defense, we consider weapons of mass destruction, nuclear weapons — it is all based around the so-called retaliatory strike — that is, when we are struck, we strike in response.”

Russia’s nuclear doctrine permits the use of a low-yield nuclear weapon in an “escalate to de-escalate” strategy in which Russia would resort to using such a weapon when facing a significant threat from conventional weapons, under the belief that other countries would not retaliate with another nuclear weapon.

“We will protect our land using all our forces and means at our disposal,” Putin said in late September, which set off concerns in Kyiv and in Western governments.

In October, President Joe Biden warned that the deployment of a nuclear weapon could result in “Armageddon.”

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Biden warned then that for the “first time since the Cuban missile crisis, we have the direct threat of the use of a nuclear weapon if in fact things continue down the path that they are going,” adding, “I don’t think there’s any such thing as the ability to easily [use] a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon.”