Russian President Vladimir Putin would only consider using nuclear weapons if he saw an “existential threat” to his country or regime, according to foreign policy experts. “They can be used, but in very, very specific situations,” former Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev told Fox News. “If Russia feels threatened in its heart… Existential, that is, if NATO troops come to Moscow, they will probably resort to nuclear weapons. But under the current circumstances, there is no existential threat to Russia,” he said.
The shift in tack on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted several analysts to suggest that if Russia faces “a crushing military defeat” in Donbass, Putin could launch a tactical nuclear strike, according to Brent Sadler, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation. “That could be the case if a tactical nuclear weapon could be considered to demonstrate determination and basically reverse all trends that are taking place in the Russian military,” he clarified. “I don’t see them using ‘city killers’ because that would definitely lead to World War III, assuming you’re attacking NATO with that.”
Vladimir Putin reiterated his nuclear threats after Finland and Sweden said they could join NATO after the Madrid summit in June, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned last Sunday that “all countries should be concerned about Putin’s threats.” .
Kozyrev, author of The Firebird: The Elusive Fate of Russian Democracy, asserted that it was “absolutely” a “bark without a bite” from the Russian leader. “Responsible military commanders will do everything possible to avoid such a scenario and to prevent the use of nuclear weapons unless they believe there is an existential threat to their homeland. Nothing that could jeopardize your position of power.”