- A former NATO commander said he was “not losing much sleep” over Putin’s nuclear threats.
- James Stavridis said using such measures would create “a huge movement away from” Putin around the world.
- Putin threatened nuclear weapons when he announced a partial military mobilization this week.
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Retired Admiral James Stavridis, a former supreme commander of allied NATO, told MSNBC on Friday that he was not particularly concerned about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats.
“I don’t see Putin deciding to use a nuclear weapon,” Stavridis said. “Bottom line: Putin is raising the stakes,” he added, “but I think the storm clouds are gathering for Vladimir Putin.”
When Putin announced plans for partial military mobilization earlier this week and took immediate steps to begin conscripting 300,000 reservists, the Russian leader threatened to use nuclear weapons in the event of a “threat” to Russia’s “territorial integrity”.
“We will certainly use all weapon systems available to us. This is not a bluff,” Putin said.
His recent remarks were not the first time since he started his war in Ukraine that Putin has issued a warning about Russia’s nuclear arsenal, which is the largest in the world. The US has repeatedly accused Putin of nuclear saber-rattling.
“President Putin has openly threatened Europe with nuclear weapons in reckless disregard for the responsibilities of the non-proliferation regime,” President Joe Biden said of his Russian counterpart in a speech at the UN General Assembly this week.
“A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,” Biden said, condemning Russia for “irresponsible nuclear threats.”
Western officials and Russia observers have repeatedly warned that Putin could decide to use a nuclear weapon if he feels cornered in Ukraine, with some fearing that the likelihood of such a scenario has increased given the country’s recent conquest of a sizable chunk of the country Territory increased by Ukraine is held by the Russian army as part of a counteroffensive. According to a Washington Post report, the US has been privately warning Russia for months that there would be serious consequences if it uses a nuclear weapon.
But Stavridis said he doesn’t lose “much sleep” over Putin’s nuclear rhetoric.
The former NATO commander said the Russian leader’s use of a nuclear weapon would “provoke a huge — dramatically — movement away from him in world public opinion.”
In an op-ed for Bloomberg published this week, Stavridis said the “nuclear threat is a repeat of Putin’s bluster months ago.”
“It is highly unlikely that he will use even a low-yield tactical nuclear weapon, given the obvious danger of starting World War III and also the immense damage it would do to his efforts, Brazil, India, Nigeria, Maintain neutrality in South Africa and other major non-aligned countries,” Stavridis wrote.
Stavridis also said that Putin’s military mobilization and nuclear threats are moves that “smack of desperation,” a point many other pundits have also argued.
Ivo Daalder, a former US ambassador to NATO, made a similar statement to Insider on Wednesday.
Putin “recognizes that the ‘military special operation’ is not going well,” Daalder said, adding that “any mobilization – partial or full – seven months into a war means you lose, not win.”
And regarding Putin’s nuclear threat, Daalder claimed that “anyone who feels it necessary to say they are not bluffing, most likely is.”