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Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a staunch ally of Vladimir Putin, invites Russia to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. A request that is getting louder and louder in Moscow (archive photo taken in Moscow in September 2016).
WAR IN UKRAINE – This is a threat that has been raised regularly since the invasion of Ukraine began, but is particularly prevalent these days. Ever since Russia recognized illegal referendums on the annexation of several Ukrainian territories and the local army advanced at the expense of Moscow troops, the idea of using nuclear weapons has become increasingly popular.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a fervent supporter of Vladimir Putin, called on the Kremlin this Saturday, October 1, to use “low-power nuclear weapons” against the Ukrainians. The idea is indeed to say that the annexed countries are now part of Russia and as such all means are good to protect the national territory.
“We have to carry out the ‘special military operation’ (it is forbidden to speak of war or invasion of Russia, editor’s note) in the truest sense of the word and not have fun playing it,” said Ramzan Kadyrov in particular, demanding heavy criticism like that Russian commando acts in the annexed areas. So much so that it is necessary for him to act “drasticly” and therefore strike with strategic nuclear weapons, but also to declare martial law in the border areas.
A little piece of music that works despite the convictions
Requests that echo a little music that has become more and more audible in Russia in recent weeks. In his speech on partial mobilization, Vladimir Putin had already indicated that he could use these nuclear weapons. Moscow is ready to use “all its means” to “protect Russia and our people,” he said in particular, a form of agitation without calling it nuclear weapons.
Remarks, supported by the Foreign Minister, at which Ukraine expressed its indignation. “These irresponsible statements about the possible use of nuclear weapons are absolutely unacceptable,” tweeted Dmytro Kuleba, head of Ukrainian diplomacy. “Ukraine will not back down. We call on all nuclear powers to denounce Russia and make it clear that this intolerable rhetoric is putting the entire world at risk. »
The irresponsible statements made by Putin and Lavrov about the possible use of nuclear weapons are absolutely unacceptable. U… https://t.co/dNV332OVJA
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba)
An exit that does nothing to prevent Russian public opinion from being pounded all day on this bleak prospect. As BBC journalist Francis Scarr, who monitors Russian media, reports on NTV, a pro-Kremlin polemicist by the name of Maxim Yusin invoked the possible end of mankind.
Just Another Day on Russian TV Maxim Yusin says there could be “days or a week” until nuclear apocalypse, so “p… https://t.co/SpwV0coht2
—Francis Scarr (@francis_scarr)
“People should have fun because it would be a shame not to take advantage of the last few days we have left to live,” he began, for example, clearly raising the specter of a nuclear threat. And with good reason to hear him say that it would be unworthy for Russia to allow itself to be slowly wiped out when it is a nuclear power, “a nuclear bear,” as he calls it. And even if it means losing a war, it should bring everyone down in that regard.
Preparations for such a strike would be revealed
So many calls to resort to nuclear weapons that the pundits and the international community don’t seem too concerned at the moment. “There is a risk, given the frivolity and bellicose stance with which Vladimir Putin is speaking about it,” but “we currently see no signs of imminent use of nuclear weapons,” he told the press notably on Friday, November 30 Jake Sullivan, the White House National Security Advisor. Especially, he added, since the United States has been “very clear about the consequences” of such strikes.
Similarly, Pavel Podvig, a researcher at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (Unidir) in Geneva, reassured AFP by stating that the United States would know if Russia ever actually planned a nuclear attack on Ukraine.
This is confirmed, still with AFP, by Mark Cancian, a former American official and now an expert in the field. In his opinion, the constraints between the movement of nuclear weapons and the supply of protective equipment to Russian troops that would be discovered, and the fear of a pre-emptive attack from the West in the event of genuine preparations, are too numerous for Russia to afford to discreetly act.
In fact, the various storage locations for these nuclear weapons in Russia are constantly monitored by American intelligence satellites, but also by other countries. It is precisely because of this that Washington is keeping an eye on North Korea’s progress on nuclear issues. And if Russia has long-range nuclear weapons on various strategic devices (submarines, missiles, etc.), which are therefore more complicated to monitor, Pavel Podvig does not envisage Moscow using these terribly destructive tools in Ukraine, but rather short ones Range weapons (nuclear nonetheless), which could be launched thanks to a ballistic missile, for example.
Finally, Pavel Podig adds that Russia’s discreet preparations since the beginning of the conflict would run counter to its strategy anyway and that Moscow is keen to use the start of its nuclear build-up as a particularly urgent warning to the West. “It would be a kind of escalation step (and) Russia would want this to be visible. The rest of the world much less so.
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