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The British think-tank warned Russian President Vladimir Putin could launch a nuclear strike on Ukraine if the war’s defeat drew near. Photo/REUTERS
LONDON – President of Russia Vladimir Putin can launch nuclear attack the Ukraine if he thinks Moscow’s defeat is imminent. That’s the warning from the UK-based think-tank Chatham House.
Moscow has sparked renewed concern over the past few days after announcing it would deploy tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus. Putin’s military also recently completed exercises with the Yars intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system.
In a research paper for Chatham House, the institute’s Russia and Eurasia expert; Keir Giles, warned there was a “non-zero” chance Putin could carry out a nuclear strike in Ukraine.
“A nuclear strike can be ordered when there is no longer any possibility of claiming conventional victory and a powerful destructive strike on Ukraine is seen as the only way to avoid clear defeat,” Giles said.
“The moment when Putin feels his options have run out is likely to be the most dangerous decision point,” he said again, as quoted by GB News, Saturday (1/4/2023).
Giles explains that nuclear weapons would have little military use on the ground in Ukraine because the front stretches hundreds of miles so any strike would not only kill Ukrainians but would irradiate the ground, making it uninhabitable for the Russians.
The expert continued, as a result, it would be impossible to attack to achieve military objectives. “Rather a revenge response intended only to cause misery and destruction in Ukraine in recognition of Russia’s failure to conquer it,” he said.
The institute added that the obstacles preventing Russia from launching nuclear weapons, such as the risk of retaliatory strikes and further nuclear escalation, do not take into account the possibility that Putin cannot make a rational decision.
“The above conditions need to be considered with the caveat that they consider President Putin capable of making a rational choice based on an objective assessment of the situation and of Russia,” the agency said in its report.
